Investment Insights Quarterly Strategy Letter 2017 Q3: Market Bulls on Parade

Resiliency seems to be the most appropriate word to describe financial markets over the past years, and that held true during the last quarter. Global stock markets continued their trek upward, reaching fresh all-time highs almost daily during the third quarter; the MSCI ACWI Index gained 5.31 percent as the coordinated global recovery strengthened and geopolitical risks were shrugged off by investors. Although most major markets experienced fairly strong positive returns, U.S. equities continued to lag behind international markets mainly due to the political environment domestically. Emerging market stocks have showed promising returns despite sizable downside risks. While investors are cautiously optimistic, especially given the recent uptick in global growth trends, there are still sizable risks at play.