BMO Global Asset Management offers complete investment advisory solutions and multidisciplinary asset management strategies to institutional investors, consultants, wealth advisors and their clients. At BMO Global Asset Management, we believe better conversations lead to better outcomes. It’s why we share direct access to the insights and conversations our investment teams have to build high quality portfolios that address the investment needs and outcomes our clients seek. Visit BMO Global Asset Management’s Viewpoints for our latest insights. Subscribe to get insights from BMO Global Asset Management delivered directly to your inbox.
April 2, 2020
The coronavirus and the measures taken to contain it have had a massive impact on individual lives, the economy and financial markets. While known to be large, significant uncertainty remains regarding just how dire the impacts will be.
March 26, 2020
After many days of intense negotiations (and many bungled sports metaphors to describe how close the sides were to a deal), The Trump Administration and the Senate reached agreement on an extremely large coronavirus stimulus package, totaling roughly $2 trillion.
March 19, 2020
Chairman Powell, when asked about the role of fiscal measures to address the economic slowdown, did not mince words – “Fiscal response is critical.” Following the announcement, futures markets and international equity markets retreated. The primary reason for this market reaction is likely the accelerating economic slowdown that is becoming more evident by the hour as closure announcements and business activity restrictions take hold.
March 12, 2020
The coronavirus-driven equity market selloff since February 19 has been swift and severe. With the sharp downward price action on the S&P 500 on March 9 (driven by virus fears in addition to an oil price crash after Saudi Arabia started a price war), we are now very close to a bear market, 11 years to the day of the Financial Crisis low.
March 5, 2020
The move followed a call between Fed Chairman Jay Powell and other leaders of G-7 economies to discuss developments with the virus and the potential economic fallout.
February 27, 2020
February 20, 2020
If the economy has been expanding for a decade, why isn’t inflation higher? The reason to ponder the dog that didn’t bark is that inflation has significant impacts to fixed income markets both through implications directly to rates as well as for monetary policy.
February 13, 2020
February 6, 2020
We believe the recent market selloff is largely justified given the uncertainty around the impact of the coronavirus and China’s importance for global growth. However, we would view a more severe selloff as a buying opportunity considering we do not expect the coronavirus to derail the strength in the longer-term fundamentals of the global economy.
January 30, 2020
Stock market returns in 2019 ended on a high with the MSCI EM index adding over 18% (in U.S dollar) for the year, with a 12% gain in the final quarter. Despite this very strong total return, emerging equities still under performed their developed market counterparts. In particular the US delivered a blockbuster year at 31% (as measured by the S&P 500 Index).
January 23, 2020
Our panelists, David Griffin of Atlanta Retirement Plans, Jania Stout of Hightower, and Robert Scherzer of Pensionmark, discuss what they learned on their path to 2x, including how they conquered the challenge of growing so rapidly.
January 16, 2020
January 9, 2020
U.S. economic data surprised to the upside in December with strong employment and growth results and the Fed remained on hold as expected. Progress on tariffs and U.K. election results lowered geopolitical noise for the time being. These developments led to continued improvement in risk sentiment.
January 2, 2020
December 19, 2019
One of the most fascinating moves in recent years has been the global tumble in long-term government bond yields to never-before-seen levels. In a number of countries, they fell into negative territory.
December 12, 2019
We are taught to assume that there is a linear relationship between risk and return. In other words, for a greater reward you have to take greater risk. And from an investment perspective, we’re taught this concept of the capital asset pricing model or CAPM, which states the expected return of an asset is a function of risk.
December 5, 2019
In November, global economic data was mixed, while U.S. growth and employment data continued to surprise to the upside. China trade tensions continued to moderate, which improved risk sentiment, though resolution remains elusive.
November 21, 2019
November 14, 2019
Over the last year, China’s equity markets gained greater global presence when China-A shares were listed on the MSCI and FTSE indices. Yet, the government has been slow to open more investment opportunities to foreigners. In this episode, we explore this rapidly evolving economy and how U.S. investors should view China in the context of their emerging markets exposure.
November 7, 2019
Declining geopolitical risk in the form of tempering of tensions regarding China trade and Brexit as well as easing monetary policy in the U.S. improved market sentiment in the month. Global manufacturing data weakened, while U.S. employment data remained solid.
October 31, 2019
The Federal Reserve Board cut the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points during their October meeting. This was the third rate cut since July, reducing the Fed Funds Rate 75 basis points since the beginning of the year. Prior to the meeting, various Fed members cited weaker economic data as well as outside risks to the outlook including the US-China trade war and Brexit.
October 17, 2019
The outline for a limited trade deal was announced on Friday between the US and China which involves the US postponing increasing tariffs on $250B of Chinese goods from 25% to 30%, which was scheduled for October 15. In return, China agreed to increase agricultural purchases and make some modest concessions on access to its financial markets and curbs on intellectual property theft. The December tariff hikes were not addressed and no concessions were made on Huawei.
October 10, 2019
October 3, 2019
Receding trade tensions and expectations of further monetary policy easing globally were in focus in September as global data continued to weaken, while U.S. economic data quietly improved.Despite U.S. tariffs on $125 billion worth of Chinese goods as well as Chinese tariffs on $75 billion of U.S. goods taking effect on the first of the month, overall trade tensions eased in September.
September 26, 2019
78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, 43% of student loan borrowers are not making payments and nearly half of all employees can’t cover a $400 emergency. In an effort to help employees understand and improve their personal financial health, many plan sponsors and their advisors are turning to workplace financial wellness programs.
September 12, 2019
September 5, 2019
Trade tensions dominated market headlines during the month, while markets continued to digest the shift in U.S. monetary policy begun with the Fed’s rate cut at the end of July.On August 1, the U.S. indicated it would add a 10% tariff on $300 billion worth of goods coming from China, with the threat to increase tariffs on $250 billion of goods up to 25% absent progress on a trade deal.
July 25, 2019
July 11, 2019
Shifting expectations around monetary policy globally and trade tensions dominated market news in June.The tariffs that President Trump announced on all imports from Mexico at the end of May were scuttled before implementation as Mexico agreed to institute more stringent border security.
June 27, 2019
How did we get to the 10-year Treasury yield closing in on 2.0%, well below the Federal Reserve (Fed) target of 2.25-2.50%? It’s a fair question that has no clear answer. Let’s face it; relatively speaking, it’s all been a bit surrealistic and tough to digest. But our mystery tour set off late last year on equity weakness as the S&P 500® Index fell 13.5% over the fourth quarter.
