WrapManager's Wealth Management Blog
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Money Manager Commentary: Why Was the Market So Volatile This Week?

Posted by WrapManager's Investment Policy Committee

February 8, 2018

Money Managers have had plenty to say about the market volatility that started last week. That’s why this week we’re doing something different. The post below is a compilation of five different commentaries. As usual, you can read the excerpt below, or click the link to download the full version of each of the individual commentaries.

Keep reading to see what the following money managers say about this week’s volatility.

Lord Abbett and Company

Cambiar Investors

Nuveen Asset Management

Federated Investors

ClearBridge Investments

[+] Read More

Federated Investors Inc Lord Abbett Company Llc Nuveen Asset Management Cambiar Investors, LLC ClearBridge Investments LLC market perspective Market Volatility Money Manager Commentary

ClearBridge Investments Looks Beyond FAANGs to Semiconductors

September 28, 2017
Tremendous growth in software functionality has only been enabled by tremendous growth in semiconductor performance... U.S. equity market returns over the last several years has been driven by the performance of a select group of large cap information technology and Internet stocks that have come to be known as the FAANGs, for Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix and Google (now known as Alphabet). Our investment teams have shared concerns about the crowding effect that the outlier performance of this group has created. While these companies possess unique business models and maintain strong long-term growth potential, we believe more attractive current opportunities may be found in looking beyond the FAANGs to other areas of technology, such as semiconductors. Read an excerpt of the complete commentary below, or download the entire investment commentary as a PDF. [+] Read More

Announcing: WrapManager's Q3 2017 Top Equity Money Manager Picks

July 26, 2017
There are thousands of money manager strategies out there, but not every money manager is a good fit for every investor. If you’re trying to find the money managers or investment strategies that are right for you – and that could help you reach your investment goals – you might feel totally overwhelmed going through all the different options. We’d like to help clear some of the confusion for you. Each quarter WrapManager’s Investment Policy Committee (IPC) compiles a short list of money manager picks in order to help investors like you discover and evaluate different money manager strategies. These investment strategies encompass a wide range of asset classes and investment disciplines so you are introduced to as many new strategies as possible. This quarter, the WrapManager IPC has selected four strategies. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investments - Q1 2016 Commentary

April 5, 2016
ClearBridge Investment's Hersh Cohen comments on the first quarter of 2016 regarding rallying oil prices and investor caution approaching the election. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investments - 4th Quarter Review

January 12, 2016
ClearBridge Investments, a Legg Mason company, addresses 2015 market volatility in their 4th quarter market overview and outlook. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Advisors - Market Risk and Opportunity

November 10, 2015
ClearBridge Investments, a Legg Mason company, provides their Q3 commentary with discussion of the challenges and opportunities that exist within such a volatile market. "Market Commentary “Nothing any good isn’t hard.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald Memories of painful experiences are often a critical and adaptive part of living, in that painful memories can keep you out of harm’s way by minimizing repeat mistakes. The challenge, however, is that memories are highly subjective, and with the passage of time you often forget how intense something felt at the time. In the realm of physical pain, my biggest outlet for stress is training and competing in triathlons with my wife and several colleagues from ClearBridge. They are all better than me, which is painful enough, but I often don’t have enough time to fully prepare for the longer events. This inevitably leads me to swear off competing again, until I ultimately find myself standing in a cold body of water at the beginning of another grueling physical experience. In all seriousness, I love competing, and the rewards of doing so from a health and emotional perspective far outweigh short bouts of physical pain that are soon enough forgotten. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investments Commentary - Large Cap Growth Portfolios

September 2, 2015
ClearBridge Investment's Peter Bourbeau and Margaret Vitrano provide their perspective on the second quarter discussing their large cap growth portfolios.  "As with stocks, the U.S. economy continued its slow march forward through the second quarter. Employment continued to lead the way, with payrolls increasing by an average of 221,000 per month, and the unemployment rate declining to 5.3%, its lowest level since April 2008. Consumer spending and new and existing home sales showed healthy improvement in May, while consumer confidence bounced back late in the quarter. The CEO of a major retailer we spoke with during the quarter indicated that consumers are now feeling good enough about their finances to expand purchases from basic staples to higher-priced apparel and home furnishings. Offsetting those gains were disappointing reports on GDP growth, with the final revision to first-quarter data showing that the economy contracted by 0.2% in the three months of the year, as well as industrial production. [+] Read More

Clearbridge Investments - Multi Cap Growth Q2

August 4, 2015
Clearbridge's Richard Freeman and Evan Bauman, provide their perspective on the second quarter discussing views on market volatility, focus sectors, and interest rates.  "Market overview and outlook U.S. stocks traded in a tight range during the second quarter, with the major indexes ending largely unchanged. The large cap S&P 500 Index gained 0.28% for the quarter, the small cap Russell 2000 Index added 0.42%, while the broad market Russell 3000 Index gained 0.14%. Volatility remained low as investors awaited a clear signal from the Federal Reserve on when it will commence raising short-term interest rates. The S&P 500 sustained its longest stretch without a 2% daily move up or down since 2007. That more than six-month stint was snapped on June 29 when the index fell 2.09% following the breakdown of talks between Greece and its creditors. The sharp drop – the largest for the S&P 500 since April 2014 – pared gains for most equity benchmarks. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Investments - Market Review Q1 2015

June 3, 2015
Legg-Mason ClearBridge's Senior Portfolio Manager, John Goode, provides his first quarter market review. "Tales from the Past and the Future Perspective about the future requires speculation about developments over a time period which often is not helpful for near and intermediate term investment decisions. However, there are times in history when it is necessary to step out on a thin intellectual limb and try to make sense of some of the very big developments that may be especially important over the next 7-10 years. In doing this, it is necessary to look back in time to understand how we got here and where we might be going. [+] Read More

ClearBridge Multi-Cap Growth: Investors Seeking a Growth Portfolio

January 14, 2014
In today’s fast paced investment world, it’s often tempting for investors to search for the “next hot thing,” or to seek out an investment approach they think could be the future of innovative investing. But what about looking for veteran money managers whose investment disciplines have withstood the test of time? ClearBridge Investments, a money manager with 45 plus years of experience.1 Below, we’ll take a closer look at the firm and its Multi-Cap Growth strategy. [+] Read More