Macro Matters podcast - Feb 5, 2024

CFA Society Chicago member Dan Grana, CFA speaks with Greg Brown, the Van and Kay Weatherspoon Distinguished Professor of Finance at UNC Kenan-Flagler. They discuss the latest academic research in private asset performance, including results and applicability to practitioners in these asset classes.

Rich Excell CFA, CMT is joined by the CEO of the CFA Society Chicago Chris Vincent CFA to recap the 2025 Investment Themese series that just completed. Chris then tells us what to expect in the upcoming CFA Institute Live event from May 4-7 in Chicago

Any volatility in the market these days?   We couldn't have gone through investment themes for 2025 without discussing volatility and the options markets   Very lucky to have Zed Francis CIO of Convexitas join our host Rich Excell, CFA on this last installment of the CFA Society Chicago Investment Exchange Forum - Investment Themes for 2025 series

We continue to explore the themes that are driving markets in 2025. The impact of changing policies in the US and elsewhere is clearly causing investors to reconsider how they will forecast the economy and markets going forward. We are lucky to be joined by Brian Wesbury of First Trust, consistently one of the top forecasters on Wall Street, to discuss the important issues facing investors today

If anything has characterized 2025 it has been the influence of geopolitics on the markets. In this episode, Rich Excell, CFA, CMT is joined by Reva Goujon, a geopolitical strategist and the Director of Corporate Advisory at Rhodium Group. Reva has two decades of experience working with C-suites and government agencies on how to deconstruct risks, assess future scenarios, and make informed decisions.

Continuing on our with our 2025 investment themes, Rich Excell CFA, CMT digs into the fixed income market with two excellent guests: Elizabeth Henderson, CFA the Head of Fixed Income for AAM and Anthony Woodside, CFA, FRM, the Head of Investment Strategy & Head of Multisector Fixed Income at LGIM America

The first of a multiple part series, we are exploring the investment themes of 2025. With so much concern on inflation, we thought the best place to start is in commodities. We were lucky to be joined by Bloomberg Intelligence Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone, a fellow CFA charterholder and friend of the program. We covered the gamut from soybeans to Solana, gold to gas. 

Rich Excell, CFA, CMT is joined by Institutional Investor's #1 Strategist Michael Kantrowitz, CFA from Piper Sandler to discuss the US equity market backdrop. What does the factor performance of the market tell us? Are expensive valuations a problem? What about tight credit spreads? Can small caps finally outperform?  All of this and more

Rich Excell CFA, CMT is joined by Barry Knapp, Managing Partner of Ironsides Macro to discuss what is being priced into the bond market and the stock market, where they agree and where the discuss agree. Barry covered TGA, RRP, Active Treasury Issuance, Negative Swaps Spreads, Inverted Yield Curves and QT. Most importantly, he made all of those terms understandable for those that don't follow the inner-workings of the bond market as closely as he does. 

Fred Goodwin aka Mr. Risk, a senior macro strategist at State Street, is a guest of Rich Excell CFA, CMT.  They have a wide-ranging discussion from leptokurtotic distributions to Chinese stimulus policy to the Rule of 100. When it is all said and done, does it all come down to TINA (There Is No Alternative) again?  Have a listen to find out