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Market Outlooks
Examining the relationship between social distancing and economic activity
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As the global spread of COVID-19 continues, the United States’ timeline to practice social distancing has now been extended through the end of April. The crisis continues to evolve, leading to questions of how long the social distance measures will remain, how severe will the infection rate get, and when will peak cases be reached. Gauging the length of these measures is crucial to anticipate the economic impacts to U.S. businesses and consumers.
Market Outlooks
The meaty realities of food production
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Initiatives such as Veganuary and meat-free Mondays are a sign of how patterns of food consumption are changing. People are increasingly aware that their eating habits can come with dramatic environmental and social costs. As investors, we are particularly interested in how companies are managing ESG risks in both their operations and supply chains, as well as whether they are seeking opportunities in high-growth areas such as vegan protein.
Market Outlooks
Weekly Investment Commentary: Stocks climb even as economic data worsens
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After falling the previous two weeks, stock prices rebounded last week due to increasing optimism over prospects for re-opening the economy.
Market Outlooks
The state of the municipal market
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What caused the extreme municipal market volatility in March 2020? In a nutshell, fear and panic. But that’s understandable in the face of a virulent, deadly enemy that you can’t see and is difficult to contain without mass testing. The unknown is menacing, and investors reacted as they have historically — by raising cash and improving liquidity. In many ways, it is similar to the 2008-09 crisis when the bursting housing bubble caused an indiscriminate rush to sell any assets other than Treasuries. What was shocking this time was the unprecedented speed of the sell-off, and the ensuing recovery. Even after 30 years in the business, it was quite alarming.
Behavioral Finance
Invest for The Decade, Not the Year
Sharing helpful data like decade-returns of the market can motivate investors to focus on the long-term and avoid costly behavioral mistakes.
Fixed Income Insights
Weekly Wire: It’s always darkest before the dawn
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It is one thing to understand we are living through an unprecedented, pandemic driven economic downturn, and all together another to learn the US unemployment rate is 14.7% and that 20.5 million of our fellow Americans lost their jobs in April.
Market Outlooks
Trends in Advisor Behavior During Market Volatility - Week of May 1, 2020
Last week was closer to "normal," if we define normal as 2019 and early 2018 trends.
Market Outlooks
Economic Data Reflects Shutdown, but Market Rallies
After one of the worst months and quarters in years, April saw a sharp rebound in equity markets as some of the worst-case COVID-19 scenarios did not materialize.