Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly
Confluence Investment Management offers various asset allocation products which are managed using “top down,” or macro, analysis. We publish asset allocation thoughts on a bi-weekly basis, updating the piece every other Monday.
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Green Shoots of Re-Industrialization (July 3, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF In a little-noticed report last month, total construction spending in April was up a modest 6.1% from one year earlier, but private nonresidential construction spending was up a whopping 30.2%. That marked the fourth straight month in which private, nonresidential construction, a proxy for commercial construction, was up… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Great Divergence (June 20, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The S&P 500 is up 10% year-to-date and briefly reached the 4,200 level in late May. The recent rally in equity markets has been driven by the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which has bolstered tech stocks. In fact, much of this strong performance has come from… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Weak Capital Investment by State and Local Governments (June 5, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The standoff between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans over raising the federal debt limit has prompted us to think more deeply about some important longer-term issues regarding U.S. public spending. As we discuss in this report, a key problem is that one particular type of government investment… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Case for New Home Sales (May 22, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF A common topic among the financial markets is the impact of rapid monetary policy tightening. After years of accommodative monetary policy, the spike in inflation caused by the pandemic has continued to persist. To address the inflation issue, the FOMC has lifted the policy target rate at the… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Why We Are Keeping Duration Short (May 8, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Financial markets are complicated, and when faced with complication, there is an incentive to simplify. This simplification process takes on several forms, including narratives, bromides, adages, etc. Even the modeling process is a form of simplification. Sayings like “don’t fight the Fed” or “cash is trash” are often… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Fed’s Employment Surprise (April 24, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF This is the tightest labor market for Black Americans in U.S. history. The Black unemployment rate fell to an all-time low in March unsurpassed since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began a separate calculation for Black workers in 1972. Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate for Black Americans… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Increasing Concerns About Commercial Real Estate (April 10, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Last month’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB, $106.04) showed that the institution had vulnerabilities in both its assets and its liabilities. On the asset side of its balance sheet, the bank had too much exposure to longer-maturity government bonds, which depreciated sharply as the Federal Reserve aggressively… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Have Policymakers Solved the Tinbergen Problem? (March 27, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Central banking was initially created to address commercial bank runs. Commercial banks engage in a liquidity transformation, where they accept deposits, which are mostly available on demand, and turn that liquidity into less-liquid assets, usually loans or securities. Bank revenue comes from capturing this liquidity premium as less-liquid… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Importance of the Policy Mix (March 13, 2023)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Based on the strong U.S. economic data so far this year, investors have again become worried that the Federal Reserve will continue to hike interest rates aggressively and keep them high for a prolonged period. We agree that is a significant risk, and the rate hikes to date… Read More »