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 Weekly (March 5, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF In our 2021 Outlook, we had a forecast for the S&P 500 of 3918/4050. Since the index is close to that level, we have received questions about whether we are expecting little upside from here or if we intend to calibrate our expectations. This week’s Asset Allocation Weekly is… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (February 26, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The steady rise in the 10-year T-note has started to raise concerns about the impact of higher yields. This week’s report will examine what impact the steady rise in yields may have on the economy and markets. Essentially, the issue at hand is if, how, or when the FOMC… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (February 19, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF A poor jobs report for January cast doubt about the strength of the recovery. There was only a 49K rise in non-farm payrolls, well below expectations of 105K. Making matters worse, the previous month’s jobs report was revised downward from a loss of 140K to a loss of 225K.… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (February 12, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Jan Tinbergen was a Dutch economist, the first to win the Nobel Prize for economics[1] for his work on applied dynamic models of economic processes. Perhaps his most important contribution to economic policy is the penning of the Tinbergen Rule, which states that policymakers need an equal number of… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (February 5, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The residential real estate market has made a strong recovery over the past year. Virtually all areas of housing, including home prices, starts, and ownership are showing signs of strength. Let’s start with prices. Home prices have been very strong recently. This chart shows single-family existing home sales. Over… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 29, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Although there are always sundry risks to financial markets, a proximate and substantial risk comes from inflation. Of course, there is always risk of some degree of generalized price changes to financial assets. It also is important to realize that there is always some degree of inflation or deflation… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 22, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF In Charles Dickens’s novel A Tale of Two Cities, he writes, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 15, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Rare events can be difficult for financial markets to accommodate. In general, prices in financial markets, which are the sum of estimates about the future, take a while to settle on the impact of something that doesn’t happen often. The recent pandemic, 9/11, the Great Financial Crisis, etc. are… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 8, 2021)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF Although U.S. equity markets appear richly valued based on historical metrics, relative to interest rates, current values of relative earnings or sales are not extreme. Thus, the direction of interest rates and, more specifically, the direction of monetary policy, is a key element in equity values going forward. In… Read More »