It’s been an extremely difficult year for investors, with equity markets falling into bear market territory (down more than 20%) and “low-risk” bond markets registering low double-digit losses.

Diversification into other asset classes, market segments and alternative strategies can be particularly valuable in such an environment. This specifically made a huge difference to our portfolio’s relative performance.

The fact that market declines are a normal part of investing in stocks and happen relatively often doesn’t make them any less unnerving to investors whose financial security may seem to be at stake.

A quick summary of our annual 2021 investment commentary and portfolio update.

Our in depth annual 2021 investment commentary and portfolio update.

A lot has happened in a very short time in terms of China’s regulatory actions, and it has appropriately created huge uncertainty and raised many questions among investors.

For the year to date, the S&P 500 is up an impressive 15.9%. We think the odds are high that short-term rates will rise but still remain low by historical standards and also below the rate of inflation for several more years. And we expect U.S. stocks to earn an adequate excess return premium above core bonds in our medium-term “upside” scenario.

We have followed these events closely as part of our ongoing research work on China and emerging markets and thus far we are of the view…

One big thing you may have heard about in the headlines is the Federal Reserve's hint that it might start "tapering" soon.

Could the Fed's actions cause a correction or economic slowdown?

We thought this post was going to be about the $3.5 trillion budget deal or what to do with any child tax credits that may be heading your way. But then global markets jolted on fears of new viral variants. Is the sky actually falling?

This brings us once again to the macroeconomic topic du jour: inflation. More specifically, whether the recent surge in U.S. consumer prices is transitory or a macroeconomic “regime change” to a high-inflation environment.

After weeks of grandstanding, posturing, and wrangling, it looks like a bipartisan infrastructure deal that both parties can live with is in the works. Good news: no tax hikes. But you'll want to read on because we're not out of the woods yet.

So, we've got dueling infrastructure bills, plus a big proposed budget with lots of spending (and higher taxes inside). That's a lot of expensive legislation on the table. What's going to happen next?

We see an economy reflating as it recovers from a recession, not one on the edge of a hyperinflationary spiral. We have already positioned our portfolios to offer some inflation protection. But if we see the need to further hedge against inflation, we have additional options, each of which comes with tradeoffs.

Two things to discuss today: the economy (getting better) and taxes (going up?). Let’s dive in. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer and brighter…

Our view continues to be that the near-term spike in U.S. consumer price inflation, which we are starting to see, will prove to be…

More spending = higher taxes? That seems likely with a $2 trillion American Jobs Plan (that could eventually cost trillions more) on the table to bolster America’s crumbling infrastructure and invest in R&D. What could those tax hikes look like? Let’s consider the possibilities.

Clearly, it paid not to panic and get out of the markets last spring, despite the natural fear, anxiety, and uncertainty everyone was feeling at the time.

So, the next (final?) round of stimulus was signed into law by President Biden. Let’s dive in.

During the full month, the Russell 1000 Value Index outperformed its growth counterpart by 607 basis points, which was its best relative month of outperformance in 20 years.