Investment Strategy Insights

Ever lower interest rates and debt-fueled growth have been the major driving force for asset price appreciation over the last four decades. Many have now come to believe that the system is close to a breaking point, teetering at the edge due to a virtually unpayable debt overhang that has created multiple asset bubbles across the world. To make sense of the current macroeconomic backdrop and where we might go from here, we had the pleasure of hosting Diego Parrilla (Managing Partner at Quadriga Asset Managers).

Ever lower interest rates and debt-fueled growth have been the major driving force for asset price appreciation over the last four decades. Many have now come to believe that the system is close to a breaking point, teetering at the edge due to a virtually unpayable debt overhang that has created multiple asset bubbles across the world. To make sense of the current macroeconomic backdrop and where we might go from here, we had the pleasure of hosting Diego Parrilla (Managing Partner at Quadriga Asset Managers).

The stock market rally continued with only a minor hiccup in the third quarter. Despite a September swoon that saw big name technology issues sell off. The Nasdaq-100 Index continued its reign of dominance over broader large-cap indexes, powering to a 12.6% total return during the quarter compared to an 8.9% gain for the S&P 500 Index.

There have been extensive debates about corporate stock buyback programs. Some critics argue that companies create inequity and do not focus on improving employee benefits, business strategies, and R&D programs. On the other hand, proponents argue that allocating capital to shareholders allows the capital to be reinvested in productive facets. Therefore, advocates believe that buybacks have, in some regards, taken the place of ordinary dividends to return cash to shareholders.

America is over-retailed with well over 1,100 malls across the country and thousands more strip-shopping centers. Many of these malls and centers are in physical decline and are filled with irrelevant brands that sell products and services that are no longer important. The retail cleansing had already begun before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the process has been accelerated dramatically.

It is, without a doubt, the most logical starting point for any portfolio that seeks both global diversity and risk balance. Preparation before prediction. First, do no harm. Yet there is a wide range of ways to structure and deploy Risk Parity – as always, the devil is in the details (for a deeper dive check out our recent whitepaper). We had the pleasure of speaking with Alex Shahidi and Damien Bisserier (co-founders of Evoke Wealth and ARIS Consulting), creators of the popular RPAR ETF.

Every time equity markets experience a major selloff, investors’ attentions are drawn to the handful of strategies that actually benefitted from the event. So-called crisis alpha comes in many flavors and iterations, which further complicates the allocation decision.

Equity and credit analysis rely on accounting principles and future financial performance. Analysts regularly determine a company’s fiscal strength by comparing financial ratios and accounting statements (income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, etc.) to their peers.