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 Inflation Adjustment for Social Security Benefits in 2025 (October 28, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Even for dedicated, successful investors who have built up a substantial nest egg, Social Security retirement and disability investments can be an important part of their financial security. For many Americans, Social Security benefits may be the only significant source of income in advanced age. On average, Social… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Yield Curve Un-Inverts (October 14, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Although the financial press has failed to discuss it at length, the United States bond market has just exited a long period in which the yield curve (the range of bond yields across maturities) was inverted (longer-term yields were lower than shorter-term yields). One popular summary measure of… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Presidential Cycles and Stock Performance (September 30, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF As the November elections approach, there has been significant debate over which presidential candidate — former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris — would be better for US equity markets. Both candidates have made bold promises about their plans to boost national prosperity. Trump has vowed… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Benjamin Button Dividend (September 16, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF A company’s journey to industry prominence typically involves several stages: launch, growth, shakeout, maturity, and decline. Historically, large capitalization stocks were often considered to be in the maturity stage of their development. Many investors therefore assumed that these companies had strong enough earnings to initiate or maintain dividend… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Activist vs. Accommodative Treasury Issuance (August 26, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The Federal Reserve and the US Treasury are independent government agencies with the shared objective of economic prosperity. While the Treasury manages government finances and executes fiscal policy, the Fed focuses on monetary policy as it aims to maintain price stability and full employment. Despite the Fed and… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Is the Sahm Rule Right? (August 12, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF While there has been some speculation that the US economy may be headed for a recession, one indicator suggests it has already begun. The “Sahm Rule,” a widely used metric for determining the early stages of recession, was triggered in July. Created by former Federal Reserve economist Claudia… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – The Price of Central Bank Independence (July 29, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Despite the formal separation of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department in 1951, the two bodies continued to collaborate closely on economic policy for nearly two decades. The coordination aimed to improve the effectiveness of initiatives like stimulating economic growth or preventing the overheating of the economy. While… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – A New Factor for Gold Prices (July 15, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The standard regression model is as follows: Y = α +β(X) + ε Where Y is the dependent variable, X is the independent variable, α is the intercept, β is slope and ε is the error term. No model, no matter how many independent variables are added, can… Read More »
Asset Allocation Bi-Weekly – Small Caps and the Hope for a Soft Landing (June 24, 2024)
by the Asset Allocation Committee | PDF They don’t call him Maestro for nothing. In the mid-1990s, Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan achieved what was once thought of as impossible: an economic soft landing. As the US labor market showed signs of tightening, he raised interest rates from 3% to 6% in 1994 to preemptively… Read More »