Over the past few years, many investors have avoided developed international equity markets for a variety of reasons: anemic growth, disappointing economic data and geopolitical uncertainty. Brian Manby discusses reasons why investors should be optimistic about international equities again.
One of the most important macro stories of the last 15 months has been the dramatic decline in the U.S. dollar. However, the changing of the guard in the White House, with the insertion of Larry Kudlow as Trump’s primary economic advisor, may be ushering in a very important strategic change in the currency markets and sentiment.
We feel strongly about helping our clients understand the impact that currencies have on international equity returns. To adapt to the changing dynamics of the currency markets, we think one of the best approaches is exactly that: dynamic.
Quantitative easing liquidity world average correlations have been dropping in the U.S., and we see similar patterns globally, especially in Europe and Japan. How should investors account for this when constructing their portfolios?
One of the lessons learned over the past 10 years is that the U.S. equity market has great resiliency—even during periods when markets tank. But for U.S. investors buying into broad developed world index funds tracking the MSCI EAFE Index, the last 10 years were disappointing.