Artisan Canvas

The increasing evidence that greenhouse gases created by human activity is driving climate change—including higher temperatures, more droughts, extreme weather and melting glaciers—has created a call to action for public and private-market solutions to slow these trends.

As one of China’s largest property developers, Evergrande’s size and precarious financial position pose real risks for China’s authorities, economy and financial markets.

Tepid economic growth in the post financial crisis decade left investors searching for companies that could stand out from the market by disproportionately growing their profits. The technology-centric US economy became the preferred destination for capital, with profit growth far exceeding its non-US peers (Exhibit 1). This rise in profits combined with more multiple expansion drove US equities to deliver over 600bps of higher annual returns and higher returns on equity (Exhibit 1). That said, it might be appropriate for investors to sharpen their pencils and give their non-US equity exposure a closer look given the price being paid for US profit growth appears a bit stretched today, and past performance is not indicative of future results (Exhibit 2).

Opportunities to capture additional yield by moving up in quality are uncommon for fixed income investors, but that’s the dynamic at play today in leveraged credit.

Yep, the dog days of summer are here. And now that people are getting together more frequently, there is the age-old matter of what to discuss. Politics is a bit touchy these days. Sports is an option, of course, but who really wants to talk about pitch spin rate and the Olympics seemed to lack the typical inspiring excitement—thanks a lot COVID-19! And there is what to binge-watch next. But with stocks continuing to climb, new asset classes seemingly bursting onto the scene and plenty of uncertainty ahead, one should expect a bit of market banter.

Below is a little game to go along with those investing conversations.

Through the first six months of 2021, high yield credit markets have provided an above-coupon return on the back of tighter credit spreads—though this has been somewhat offset by the increase in Treasury yields. The benign credit backdrop and deep bid for yield has favored a down-in-quality approach, particularly among economic reopening beneficiaries. Across the capital structure, loans have benefited from investor focus on rising rates. Loans have provided strong absolute gains so far, but receding inflation expectations led to lower Treasury yields in Q2, which in turn weighed on relative returns for the floating-rate asset class.

Looking for additional summer beach reading to go along with your latest murder mystery, self-improvement book or crossword puzzle? Now is a good time to get some fresh perspectives on investing and financial markets.

We queried our investment teams about some of their favorite books and how those reads have impacted their approach to investing.

We hope you enjoy!

Featured Author: Meagan Nace
Meagan Nace is an analyst on the Artisan Partners Sustainable Emerging Markets Team.

In addition to the public health tragedy, the pandemic has been a source of significant economic and fiscal setbacks for Latin America—at a time when social discontent over inequality was already beginning to surface. While we see some signs of economic improvement, the pandemic led to drops in much-needed investment—foreign, corporate and government—while fiscal conditions have become further strained. Now, a series of elections will reveal what leaders and policies each country feels will help it move forward—with potentially significant implications for the region’s financial markets.

This recent ransomware attack on America’s energy infrastructure has me concerned. Imagine the chaos if the clandestine cyberweapons market shutters America’s electrical power grid. I mean, how would Americans access their trillion dollars of crypto?!? How will I know if my friends have laser-eyed avatars and will get offended when I don’t accept bitcoin as barter for my backup generator?

Supply/Demand is a semi-regular feature of the Artisan Canvas rounding up interesting and quirky subjects from across the Internet with a focus on economic and business trends. A good rule of thumb among the Artisan Canvas editorial staff is “never reason from a price change.” With that in mind, our latest edition of Supply/Demand.

The price tags for (seemingly) everything have gone up, from electronics to cars to food—partly because commodities prices have also jumped. Some are related to pandemic recovery, particularly in China. For others, geopolitics are at play—again, also frequently related to China. Here are the commodities trends that caught our collective eye: