January 7, 2016 | Investment Notes, Quarterly Commentary
2015 year-end review “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” William Arthur Ward For the last 50 years, the S&P 500 has returned an average of 9.7% (total return) per year, fueled primarily by economic growth, corporate earnings and dividend payments. The stock index has been...
October 6, 2015 | Investment Notes, Quarterly Commentary
“Human misery must somewhere have a stop; there is no wind that always blows a storm.” (Euripides) The third quarter of 2015 in review Equity markets had their first correction in nearly four years in the third quarter, beginning with a drop of more than 10% in a seven day span in mid-August. Markets immediately recovered nearly half of the losses,...
July 7, 2015 | Investment Notes, Quarterly Commentary
“Never think that lack of variability is stability. Don’t confuse lack of volatility with stability, ever.” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb) Market Review Equity markets zigged and zagged during the second quarter, with non-US developed markets up nearly 12% at one point in mid-May, but falling back to earth in the last half of the second quarter,...
April 11, 2015 | Investment Notes, Quarterly Commentary
“Within our mandate, the ECB is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the Euro. Believe me, it will be enough.” (Mario Draghi) First Quarter in Review So Mr. Draghi spoke in July 2012 and in March 2015, the European Central Bank started a one trillion euro bond-buying program aimed at boosting inflation and reviving European economies. As in...
April 9, 2015 | Investment Notes
Investment Views Our investment strategy team makes a series of active decisions within our Global Portfolios based upon our current outlook on the US and global economy, global equity and fixed income markets. Every quarter, we shift assets away from our strategic allocation, tilting our allocations in certain asset classes and segments from their...
April 1, 2015 | Uncategorized
Overview We updated our Sector Rotation strategy in at the end of March as part of our regular monthly rebalancing. The strategy employs an advanced algorithm for capturing market momentum in an optimized portfolio of US sectors and is traded monthly. For this month, we increased our exposure to the US consumer staples, financials, and healthcare...
March 27, 2015 | In The News
Matt Pierce will be speaking on the affect of pension fund distribution rates on an asset allocation policy at the March 30, 2015 conference sponsored by the Retirement Administrators and Designers of America at Sea Island, Georgia. The topic covers the appropriate asset allocation portfolio given fixed rate distributions from a permanent endowment. If...
March 2, 2015 | Investment Notes
Overview We updated our Sector Rotation strategy in at the end of February as part of our regular monthly rebalancing. The strategy employs an advanced algorithm for capturing market momentum in an optimized portfolio of US sectors and is traded monthly. For this month, we reduced our exposure to the US financials, increased allocations to materials...
February 1, 2015 | Investment Notes
Overview The Island Light Sector rotation strategy was updated for February as part of our regular monthly rebalancing. The strategy employs an advanced algorithm for capturing market momentum in an optimized portfolio of US sectors, rebalanced monthly. For this month, we retained our exposure to the US financials, increased allocations to technology...
January 7, 2015 | Investment Notes, Quarterly Commentary
The Year in Review “May I never wake up from the American dream.” (Carrie Latet) 2014 was another year when it really paid to be an American investor. US stocks and bonds had positive returns with the S&P 500 index, which measures the largest US stocks, returning a better-than-expected 13.7% and the Barclays US Aggregate Bond index, which measures...