As stewards of more than $12 billion in client capital (as of July 25, 2021), our job on the Investment Management team at Commonwealth requires a great deal of risk assessment—and there are many risks that require evaluation. But too often in our industry, the talking heads focus on the short-term ones like interest rate moves and market pullbacks. Most investors, however, have long time horizons. So, what we should be considering as an industry are the longer-term risks that match up with our clients’ goal horizons. One of those risks? Climate change.

Today’s post is from Peter Essele, vice president of investment management and research.

Today's post is from Peter Essele, vice president of investment management and research.

As we turn the page on 2020 (thankfully!), market practitioners are starting to release outlook pieces and portfolio positioning recommendations for the year ahead. The recent strong performance of value, when compared with growth, has many investors wondering whether it makes sense to consider an overweight to this seemingly forgotten asset class, which has benefited greatly from the recent vaccine rally.

Brad here. “Value” is an often-mentioned word, but few people have really considered what it means in the context of the whole economy. A short while ago, Pete Essele, one of Commonwealth’s most senior portfolio managers, wrote a post for this blog in which he discusses value investing and its underperformance. That was the first part of the story. Here, he takes a deeper look at why that underperformance happened—with very interesting implications for the future. Take it away, Pete!

Brad here. Another question I have been getting repeatedly is whether value is dead. Just as with emerging markets, a long run of underperformance has raised this question. Is the situation different now? Peter Essele, one of Commonwealth’s most senior portfolio managers, is very well positioned to answer that question. Over to you, Pete!

Brad here. In today's post, Peter Essele, vice president of investment management and research, provides some perspective on the latest jobless claims numbers—and what we might expect going forward.

Brad here. One of the hot topics in investing is sustainability—expressed as either socially responsible investing (SRI) or environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. Recently, major players have doubled down on their commitment to sustainability, although Commonwealth has been here for years. In this post, Peter Essele, vice president of investment management and research, gives a very good summary of what is happening—and what we are doing about it.

Brad here. One of the recent concerns about the economy has been the housing market slowdown. Housing involves not only home sales but also many ancillary activities (e.g., construction and financing). It is a significant economic actor in itself and a good indicator of how consumers feel overall. Housing is also at the center of many people’s economic decisions. In fact, I get more questions about housing than about anything else from employees here at Commonwealth. For today, Pete Essele has put together a good look at the current market and how it is likely to evolve over the next several months. Thanks, Pete!

Today's post is from Peter Essele, manager of Commonwealth's Investment Management and Research team.

Today's post is from Peter Essele, manager of Commonwealth's Investment Management and Research team. 

A little over a year ago, my colleague, Anu Gaggar, and I conducted a study for the Independent Market Observer. We examined the emerging markets and international asset classes through the lens of investor behaviors, noting at the time that many investors had shed these asset classes during 2016. They did so largely because they feared underperformance and higher volatility. We believed there could be negative consequences on portfolio returns from this decision, however, so we took a closer look.

Today, we're revisiting this topic to see whether investors have changed their minds since then, choosing to once again accept the risks of global diversification. And, if so, what might that mean for their portfolios going forward?