Publications
Our talented team of investment professionals regularly create and distribute educational materials delivering timely data, perspectives, and insight on the markets and related topics.
Research Review: August 2021
The Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, held in a virtual setting in late-August due to the COVID-19 Delta variant, reaffirmed the Fed’s plans as communicated in their July 27-28 meeting minutes to begin tapering the pace of monthly asset purchases by the end of the year, provided the ongoing progress seen on both the employment and inflation fronts is sustained. Specific to the Fed’s inflation mandate, which has been informally relaxed in recent quarters to provide the Fed with added policy flexibility, numerous data points corroborate the need for a scaling-back of the Fed’s current ultra accommodative stance.
Governance Framework: How to Structure for Success
Having the right governance structure is key to an organization’s success. Good governance leads to good decision-making across the entire organization, including the investment committee. Conversely, a poor governance structure can lead to underperformance across an organization. The governance framework serves as a foundation upon which an organization builds different roles and processes. This post outlines how to structure your governance framework for success.
Second Quarter 2021 Private Capital Quarterly Review
In 2013, venture capitalist Aileen Lee described venture-backed companies valued at $1 billion as being “rare as a unicorn.” At the time, the venture industry was emerging from a lost decade following the technology bubble bursting in early 2000 and successful and highly valued venture-backed companies were exceedingly rare, occurring less than 0.1% of the time. Today, however, unicorns are occurring with greater frequency and at significantly greater values, which has attracted the attention of investors, venture capital firms, and public investors alike. As a result, exit markets, valuations, and potential returns have been profoundly impacted.
Research Review: July 2021
The U.S. labor market continued to chip away at the more than 22 million jobs lost during the two-month recession in March and April 2020, as 943,000 positions were added to the economy in July. This follows June’s similarly strong reading of 938,000 and adds continued evidence that the economy is exhibiting a strong expansionary bias. Click to read more about what has been driving the markets.
Research Review: Second Quarter 2021
Market performance in the second quarter was broadly positive across most major asset classes and categories, with many themes resembling the pre-COVID backdrop, particularly related to domestic large cap growth’s strong performance. Inflationary concerns continued to remain at the forefront, as many realized inflation measures accelerated to multi-decade highs through the quarter and materially above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
Research Review: May 2021
May presented investors with broad-based gains across most major asset classes and categories, as the ongoing resumption of global economic activity appeared to have gathered pace and sent inflation rates higher in the process. Incoming economic data during the month suggested the sharpest annualized inflation rate increase in nearly 30 years.
FEG Insight: CF Survey Executive Summary
The FEG Community Foundation Survey provides transparency into financial and enterprise trends facing community foundations today. Foundation leaders can use this as a benchmarking tool to support strategic decision-making. This year we had 110 participants from 35 states. Key themes and results from the survey are shared below on topics including investment model, asset allocation, performance, diverse asset managers, responsive investing, spending policy, fees, and investment committee structure.
Webinar Replay: FEG 2021 Community Foundation Survey
Hear from FEG consultants Jeff Davis, Jeff Weisker, and Quincy Brown as they reveal financial and enterprise trends from across the community foundation field. They also address key themes and considerations for your organization from the FEG 2021 Community Foundation Survey.
First Quarter 2021 Private Capital Quarterly Review
Energy was one of the most negatively impacted sectors by the pandemic in 2020. By the end of the first quarter 2021, energy markets recovered and have led the market thus far in 2021. Notably, this surge is occurring at a time when many investors have abandoned energy following years of disappointing returns, along with a shift toward divesting in fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy. One trend that stands out across multiple segments of the investment landscape today is clean energy. The sector has experienced massive and unprecedented capital flows in both public and private markets—a trend which is being driven by a myriad of factors.
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Market Commentary: Second Quarter 2021
Second quarter 2021 presented investors with a broadly positive performance backdrop. Notably, in June, U.S. large cap growth strongly outperformed value, small cap underperformed large cap, interest rates declined, the U.S. dollar sharply appreciated, and incoming U.S. economic data began to slip versus sell-side estimates.
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