Economy

Using Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) to Ride the Tides of Uncertainty

Using Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs) to Ride the Tides of Uncertainty

4 min readAbstract Recent events serve as a prelude to what is to come from the new administration. Active cash portfolio management with a separate account solution helps manage policy uncertainty, market volatility, headline and geopolitical risk. Fiscal and monetary policies, international relations and political conflicts may bring more uncertainty in 2017 than in other recent years….

Cash Investors Brace for Another Debt Ceiling Rollercoaster Ride

Cash Investors Brace for Another Debt Ceiling Rollercoaster Ride

4 min readRemember the debt ceiling fights of 2011 and 2013? They may be in the back of many investors’ minds now, but will likely be front and center again leading up to March 15, when the suspension of the federal government debt ceiling expires. Any institutional cash investor who lived through those earlier Congressional standoffs knows…

How a Trump Presidency will Impact Treasury Investment Portfolios

How a Trump Presidency will Impact Treasury Investment Portfolios

2 min readAbstract Policy, geopolitical, and idiosyncratic risks are real under the new administration. It is too soon to tell if the next four years will be friendly to cash investors. The economic drag from trade barriers and immigration control may offset some benefits from a federal stimulus and a pro-business Republican agenda. A potentially bifurcated outcome…

The Economic “Soft Patch” at the End of QE2

The Economic “Soft Patch” at the End of QE2

3 min readIntroduction How long does it take for “green shoots” to grow into a “soft patch”? For the U.S. economy, it has taken a little more than two years. In his famous 60 Minutes interview on March 15, 2009, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke popularized the phrase “green shoots” to describe the growing confidence in the…

The Exit Strategy

The Exit Strategy

2 min readFederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently laid out his plans to lawmakers on how the Fed will eliminate programs, when needed, which pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into the financial system. In an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that the strategy is ready to be put to use, but noted…

Controlling Hidden Exposures in Cash Portfolios

Controlling Hidden Exposures in Cash Portfolios

3 min readRecent credit market events have stress-tested corporate cash portfolios more than at any time I can recall in my 28-year investment career. These events are shocking in scope and have threatened our financial system in ways not seen since the Great Depression. Because it’s so easy to “lose sight of the forest” in this unprecedented…