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Investors buy gold out of fear that the economic and political infrastructure we count on when we buy stocks and bonds is degrading. And gold booms inevitably end with a bust. The better strategy may be to build a reasonably sized position in diversified commodities, including gold; play close attention to sound entry points; and rebalance religiou...

Articles in this publication consider the impact of long-term debt reduction on the economy and investments, a less taxing way to own hedge funds, whether equities have reached the end of an era, the interplay of the end of QE2 and municipal bonds, and assurance that we are far from having the decline of the dollar be a policy concern.

To achieve lower borrowing costs and longer payment schedules for bond-issuing eurozone countries, bond alchemists (or policymakers) must ensure that the banks holding periphery bonds don't suffer significant losses, that the issuing countries can return to the markets, and that investors are confident the countries won't default.

The authors examine a range of topics, including the narrowing gap between returns on different asset classes, signs of the coming economic upturn, the strategy of alternating between risk-on and risk-off modes, inflation and economic crises around the world, performance of specific asset classes, and innovation as China's next growth driver.

The hedge fund industry is reinventing business models and best practices to address regulatory changes and investor demands for enhanced fund transparency, liquidity, and efficiency. Investors, fund managers, and regulators are looking to third-party administrators to provide objective risk assessment and reporting.

The U.S. economy lacks clear drivers of sustained growth, and there is no "quick fix" for the housing and structurally high unemployment situations. While there is much debate about what the federal government can and cannot do to change this dynamic, it is hard to see any real solution other than a gradual, often volatile recovery pattern over sev...

The debt issues faced by the developed world, macro imbalances, and the unpredictability of global policy actions make this an especially uncertain environment. However, the Fed continues to make low-risk assets very unappealing. Overall, global equities appear reasonably priced in light of the paltry real returns on bonds.

This summary report of the second quarter provides a high-level view of global economic data as well as global and U.S. economic trends. In addition, it examines individual market segments, including U.S. fixed income, U.S. equity, global equity, international equity, hedge funds, private equity, and real assets.

While some people are crying out that the U.S. economy is dead or dying, the economy itself seems to be protesting otherwise. Look for continued slow but steady growth in the United States and globally, with commodity prices stabilizing and Japanese supply chain worries easing. But policy and market action are needed to restore investors' confidenc...

The world continues to work through a long-term structural shift of economic and political influence to a group of emerging economies, most notably China and India, while the developed world fights the hangover of more than a decade of excessive spending and debt accumulation. These long-term structural changes should drive patterns of economic gro...

The authors have contended since late 2008 that the global deleveraging process is likely to occur in multiple stages and last until 2014 or 2015. Investors need to be aware of this cycle in allocating assets and to focus on capital preservation while resisting the temptation to be swayed by short-term volatility.

The marginal utility of the Fed's tools is decreasing. And relying on that one agency to turn activity from the greatest recession on record does not seem logical. The rest of Washington needs to notice the economic malaise and work together to resolve some of the economic challenges we face.

Recent economic reports have presented relatively good news, but investors seem unwilling to buy in to optimism. Although recent price declines have pushed stocks into bear market territory, stocks remain a good choice vs. cash for long-term investors. In 10 years, stock earnings and valuations are likely to be higher than today.

Real estate has long been recognized as a diversification vehicle within investment portfolios and often is held in one of two ways: physical real estate and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Although REITs were first created in the early 1960s and have played a notable role for investors since the 1990s, they have not always been a requiremen...

Investors were recently challenged after the U.K. referendum on membership in the European Union (the Brexit vote). Although the polls predicted a tight race, the markets were signaling that a vote to remain would prevail. As the facts of the market changed, it was critical that opinions adapted to evaluate whether an investor was on track to reach...