Morningstar last week advised that tactical asset allocation funds “failed—again.” That sounds ominous for this class of strategies, but a closer review suggests it’s misguided to pull the plug on the on idea that dynamically adjusting weights of asset classes has crashed and burned. As discussed below, the case for tactical asset allocation (TAA) is quite strong, assuming you’re an informed investor able and willing to separate the wheat from the chaff in this corner of portfolio management.
Macro Briefing: 10 February 2025
US non-farm payrolls rose 143,000 in January, a sharp slowdown from December’s strong increase. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate fell to 4.0% last month — lowest since May. “The weaker January increase masks what may be a firming trend in hiring,” advises a note from TMC Research, a unit of The Milwaukee Co., a wealth manager. “Using a 3-month average of payrolls to reduce the short-term noise suggests the hiring trend appears to be picking up. Note, too, that the 6-month trend turned above the 1-year change in January for the first time since May.”
Book Bits: 08 February 2025
● The Humble Investor: How to find a winning edge in a surprising world
Daniel Rasmussen
Interview with author via Bloomberg
Financial forecasting is a mainstay of finance and economics. Banks use them to analyze how well a company should be doing a few years from now; governments use them to set their budgets. But how often are those prognostications—on which so much depends— actually accurate? Not very often, according to Daniel Rasmussen, founder of Verdad Advisers, author of The Humble Investor: How to Find a Winning Edge in a Surprising World and guest on this week’s episode of Merryn Talks Money.
Financials, Health Care Sectors Leading US Stocks Higher In 2025
Genius remains a bull market so far in 2025. All the main sectors in the US equities market are posting year-to-date gains, led by financials and health care, based on a set of ETFs through Thursday’s close (Feb. 6).
Macro Briefing: 07 February 2025
US jobless claims edged up last week, but remain low. The 11,000 increase in new applications for unemployment benefits for the week through Feb. 1 reflects a middling range relative to recent history and near a multi-decade low. The latest report suggests the labor market will continue to expand at a solid pace.
Risk-On Sentiment Endures, Despite Trade Uncertainty
Years ago there was a TV commercial about a kids’ toy called Weebles, which “wobbled but they don’t fall down.” The line comes to mind in reviewing recent market activity. Since returning to the White House last month, President Trump has outlined a wave of policy changes, plans and comments that have roiled markets and shaken expectations about the economic outlook. But for the moment, the latest squalls of volatility have come and gone, leaving an upside trend that’s a bit battered but mostly intact.
Macro Briefing: 06 February 2025
US companies accelerated hiring in January, according to the ADP Employment Report. Private payrolls increased 183,000, marking a faster pace for a second straight month. “Hiring momentum in the last quarter of 2024 carried into January with some exceptions, including manufacturing,” notes Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist. “We had a strong start to 2025 but it masked a dichotomy in the labor market. Consumer-facing industries drove hiring, while job growth was weaker in business services and production.”
Treasury Yields Edge Lower Despite Threat Of Trade War
President Trump’s comments and executive orders have roiled markets and investor expectations, but from the vantage of the Treasury market a relative calm prevails. This could change, of course, but for now key yields for government bonds are flat to slightly lower in recent days.
Macro Briefing: 05 February 2025
US job openings fell to a three-month low in December. The downshift highlights an ongoing slide in openings, which suggests that the labor market’s expansion will continue to slow. The job-openings data “is consistent with the Fed’s view that the labor market is healthy enough to tolerate a more cautious approach to lowering rates, particularly given the uncertainty surrounding tariff policy, says Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.
Total Return Forecasts: Major Asset Classes | 04 February 2025
The long-run expected return for the Global Market Index (GMI) remained above 7% for a third straight month in January, ticking higher vs. December’s estimate. The revised forecast, based on three models defined below, continues to reflect the highest return outlook in recent history for this multi-asset-class global benchmark.