Today's first post is from Giovanna Zaffina, wealth management platform manager, and Anu Gaggar, senior investment research analyst.

Today’s post is from Peter Roberto, investment research analyst on our Investment Management and Research team.

Today's post is from Anu Gaggar, senior investment research analyst on our Investment Management and Research team.

Today's post is from Brian Price, senior vice president of investment management and research.

Today’s post comes to you from Nick Follett, fixed income manager on our Investment Management and Research team.

Today’s post comes to you from Rob Swanke, fixed income analyst on our Investment Management and Research team.

The third wave of the pandemic may be showing signs of a peak. While new cases remain very high, the seven-day daily average was down for two days in the past week, suggesting we may be close to a peak. Given the lag from Thanksgiving, that conclusion seems reasonable as much of the travel surge should be starting to play out, while control measures are becoming more widespread.

With the start of COVID vaccinations and signs that the third wave may be peaking, I have been thinking a lot about what the new normal will look like—and what it will mean for us as investors. We are not there yet, of course. But we can see the end of the pandemic in the not-too-distant future. Markets are already there, but markets tend to have a ready-fire-aim approach. So, there is still an opportunity to be thoughtful. Let’s walk through what the new normal might look like.

A lot has been written about how bad things are. Although vaccines are now being deployed, daily new cases continue to hit new highs. Even as testing expands, the positive rates remain way too high, signaling that the virus continues to spread. States that had the virus under control are now seeing new outbreaks.

The third wave of the pandemic has not yet peaked. While we saw a significant downturn in case growth late last month, that was due to limited reporting during the Thanksgiving holiday. Since then, after an expected surge as reporting caught up, cases have continued to rise. We are now two weeks past the start of the holiday travel period, and a rise in cases is now showing up (likely due to that travel).