Portfolio
Public-private allocation guidance, capital market assumptions, and strategic insight to help investors build forward-looking portfolios they can act on and defend.
It is time to bet on brick-and-mortar again. The next time you step around your partner's Amazon package on your way to a physical store, consider this: Rock-bottom investor expectations, attractive initial fundamentals, and ongoing demographic shifts make Retail Real Estate a buy for the first time in a decade.
Investors see Europe as a museum: A continent stuck in the past, with no ability to innovate, much less generate profits. But is this view accurate? In this report we argue that the structural headwinds to European profitability are a thing of the past. Political change and improving sentiment are also a tailwind for Europe. Meanwhile, in the US, economic uncertainty brought about by Trump’s policies have reversed the surge in animal spirits that followed the election. All of this is happening within the context of weakening growth. We upgrade European equities from neutral to overweight and downgrade US equities from neutral to underweight.
The MacroQuant model is no longer bullish on stocks but is not yet prepared to turn underweight. Subjectively, the Global Investment Strategy team is more bearish on equities than the model.
In this report, we reassess our bullish stance on crypto from early 2023, following Bitcoin’s recent all-time highs. While institutional adoption is broadening, there are also signs of excessive exuberance, speculation, and optimism. Given these conditions, a near-term correction appears likely. We are booking profits and will look to re-enter the market at $75,000.
Markets and forecasters anticipate a “Golden Age” for Trump’s America, with US growth expectations soaring while the rest of the world lags. However, this extreme optimism means that there is a lot of room for disappointment. Cooling income growth, weak housing and less deficit spending than expected will result in US growth underperforming expectations. Maintain a modest underweight to equities and modest overweight to fixed income. US markets have become more expensive relative to the rest of the world even as quality differentials have stabilized. Prepare to downgrade US equities to underweight and to upgrade Euro Area and China to overweight. We will wait to pull the trigger until we have more clarity on trade policy and when the dollar's momentum turns negative.
The latest version of the MacroQuant model suggests that the bull market in US stocks is winding down. The model expects Treasury yields to fall later this year but is not ready to go long duration just yet.
Asset class expectations show mixed shifts from 2024, with Real Estate seeing substantial upgrades and Private Equity benefiting from Venture Capital improvements. Private Credit return expectations decline from 2024 but remain relatively attractive. Infrastructure shows varied dynamics across sub-strategies, with Value-Add offering strong return potential. Within Hedge Funds, Long-Short Equity shows higher tactical returns while Multi-Strategy leads strategic projections.
