Notes from the Road...or the Boarding Gate

What You Need to Know

This short note draws out common themes from our recent conversations and meetings with clients across the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. The questions we were asked ranged from monetary policy and inflation to strategic asset allocation, the impact of artificial intelligence and market liquidity.

There was almost no pushback to our suggestion that equilibrium inflation will be higher, but that does not mean investors have changed their strategic asset allocation to reflect this. There was a general view that allocations to private assets are going up, especially private debt, though there were also questions on the system wide impact of this development on liquidity and the cycle. We found no consensus at all on the tactical outlook, which many investors have found especially hard to navigate.

When traveling to meet with clients, it’s striking how often common topics surface. This could, of course, suggest that we are all in one giant echo chamber, but it does seem to reflect shared concerns. Below, we summarize themes that emerged in recent meetings across the US, Canada, Europe and the Middle East. They run the full gamut from strategic to tactical and from macroeconomic to portfolio construction.

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