By Jeff Warren
January 27, 2022
Many of our clients choose to diversify between our Tactical Allocation, Growth (primarily renewables & wireless), and Dividend-Focused Income portfolios, each with its own strategies, yet all mutually complementary. This update is focused on the latter two investment approaches.
Market Update
Stocks, bonds and related asset classes have been making a lot of news over the past month. There are different views about the causes and effects of recent volatility, however it seems that addressing the activity from the viewpoint of the investment strategy we are utilizing for our Diversified Growth and Dividend Focused Portfolios would be most useful to clients with holdings in those portfolios.
The Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ, and Russell 2000 indexes are all negative year to date. Here is what I have gleaned from the resources and professionals we follow.
1. The Stock and Bond markets have been “pricing in” the Fed proposal to begin raising interest rates in March. Higher rates and ending the bond buying program are considered “tightening” monetary policy. This is a path needed for a long time; inflation has introduced a big motivation to tighten because it is one of the necessary actions to bring down inflation.
2. Pandemic Trades Unwinding- Many technology companies, which represent a sizable portion of our economy, had a run up in price from April 2020 until recently. When the markets respond as they have this month, technology stocks drop at a faster, more dramatic rate. Some of the renewable energy/energy efficiency stocks have experienced a knock-on effect during this volatility. Many others have gained value, benefiting from global concerns about oil dependence caused by the Ukraine conflict.
3. Extreme Sentiment- Markets are driven by sentiment in the short term. We have had extreme sentiment both positive and negative since April of 2020. Lots of over-buying and over-selling. The fact for us is that these swings are irrelevant. The sectors we own are based on a longer time horizon with growth as the objective, enabling us to ignore the continuous ups and downs of markets.
The fact for us is that market swings are irrelevant. The sectors we own are based on a longer time horizon with growth as the objective, enabling us to ignore the continuous ups and downs of markets. We use Stocks, Mutual Funds and ETFs that give us best exposure to:
- The Energy Transition-Renewable Energy producers, utilities, and infrastructure
- Energy Efficiency- The electrification of everything including autos, real estate, manufacturing; etc.
- Sustainable Infrastructure and Innovation- Water sustainability, waste management, remediation and sustainable materials and agriculture
- Digital Infrastructure- Data centers, 5G infrastructure
- Real Estate- Class A triple net lease properties, self-storage, multi-family
There also many Bonds/Fixed Income investments we use, some have their own “ESG” credentials. The fundamental utility in these, in addition to diversification, is dividends. Dividends can add more stability and can be used for income if desired.
Lastly, we use a measured amount of managed futures to hedge market volatility.
If you wish to discuss the markets or specifics about our Diversified Growth and Dividend-Focused Income portfolios, please call or e-mail me.
Sincerely
Jeff Warren