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Despite continued geopolitical instability and the media’s newfound focus on jihadist terror, equities rallied during the month on optimism that monetary policies among major central banks will continue to be quite supportive. U.S. corporate earnings for the second quarter of 2014 also came in stronger than expected, with the S&P 500 earnings growth rate accelerating to over 8% year-on-year. Developments outside the U.S. were less encouraging.

The fixed income environment is changing, and as a result we believe opportunistic fixed income strategies with the flexibility to go anywhere are better suited to today’s market realities than traditional, duration-heavy core holdings. But because these strategies come in different shapes and sizes, we think it is important for investors to drill down into what they’re actually investing in and understand both the what, and the how of investing in this new fixed income landscape.

The tightening of regulations around the world is prompting banks to offload a variety of financial assets onto the capital markets. Investors are aware of this opportunity. However, we think that many hold misconceptions about it because of the opaque nature of the disintermediation process, and the unfamiliar and heterogeneous nature of the assets involved. In particular, we believe that investors incorrectly assume the opportunity has been missed and offer evidence that this is not the case.

While subdued inflation and low bond yields have been key common features across major economies in the current growth recovery, the divergence in labour market dynamics has been striking. Whereas the rise in Euro area unemployment has barely been dented, the fall in US or UK unemployment has been faster than anticipated.

Our Convergence thought leadership focuses on transformative technologies in the early 21st century. Insights and data shared demonstrate the significant impact these integrated technologies will have on virtually all industries and people worldwide for years to come.

Many families have significant wealth tied up in the publicly traded shares of a single firm.

Throughout our history, investors have utilized a combination of both “active” and “passive” investment solutions to solve for client needs. This paper provides a perspective on the ongoing debate over the advantages and shortcomings of these vehicles and details the importance for each client to have the right mix in order to position them to achieve their goals and objectives.

Periods of economic boom and bust have been a fixture in academia. Many credit Arthur Burns and Wesley Mitchell for formulizing our present day construct of the business cycle in their 1946 book, Measuring Business Cycles. In most teachings, the economy is neatly categorized into trough and peak, expansion and contraction. The dates of such periods are set by The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a non-profit, independent institution.

The phenomenal success of Yale's endowment has been an inspiration to many investors. However, if Yale’s endowment had to pay the same taxes as individual investors, its portfolio would be constructed very differently.