Episodes 273 and 274 + 11 New Articles!

Episode 273: Going back to First Principals in a Brave New World

In this episode of the InsuranceAUM.com podcast, host Stewart Foley, CFA, sits down with Michael Acton, Managing Director and Head of Research and Strategy at AEW, to explore the evolving landscape of commercial real estate investing. As the industry navigates a post-pandemic world, rising interest rates, and a wave of loan maturities, Acton shares insights on how investors can return to first principles to identify opportunities amid uncertainty. He discusses the hybrid nature of real estate as an asset class, its role in portfolio diversification, and the impact of economic shifts on valuations.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Pandora.

Episode 274: Tips and Tools for Staying Current with NAIC Statutory Filings

In this episode of the?InsuranceAUM.com Podcast, host?Stewart Foley, CFA, sits down with?Barbara Arnold?and?Scott Kurland?of?SS&C Technologies?to explore the latest developments in?NAIC statutory reporting. With growing portfolio complexity and evolving regulatory requirements, insurers are facing increasing challenges in maintaining compliance while ensuring accuracy and efficiency in reporting.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Pandora.

Portfolio Finance: An Opportunity for Enhanced Spreads Through IG Credit

Portfolio finance offers a number of potential benefits for insurers seeking to generate enhanced spreads at scale in a growing market.

Yields across fixed income are elevated, but many insurance companies are struggling to generate attractive spreads through traditional investment grade (IG) and high yield markets. This challenge is perhaps most evident in IG corporate credit, where current yields remain high relative to the past 25 years (Figure 1), while spreads are exceptionally tight.?

Click HERE to read more from Barings

U.S. Housing Chartbook January 2025

Executive Summary

• The U.S. consumer remains strong on the back of a healthy labor market, and inflation is moving back to target, albeit slowly.
• Home prices continue to rise nationally despite 30-year mortgage rates over 400 bps above levels seen four years ago. About 75% of outstanding mortgages are locked in at a rate below 5%.
• Demographic trends are favorable for housing because of expected strong household formation and growth in prime home-buying age groups.

Click HERE to read more from MetLife Investment Management

Fixed Income Perspectives: The “Good” Good News about Bonds

Inflation is cooling, the economy is resilient and starting yields offer a cushion against further rate volatility—there’s a lot to like about fixed income in 2025.

Click HERE to read more from Voya Investment Management

2025: Investing In A Brave New [Old] World

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World offers a chilling view of a society that takes its reality for granted, illustrating the dangers of complacency. In many ways, this resonates with the current state of the commercial real estate market, which has long been fueled by a steady cycle of declining interest rates and property yields. However, as we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, this era may be coming to an end, or at the very least, confidence in underwriting more favorable future yield environments is in question. Instead, success in the evolving market will depend on the time-tested principles of strategic asset selection, active management, and adaptability. In the face of uncertainty, the key to thriving in this brave new [old] world of commercial real estate lies in making informed, deliberate decisions—not just waiting for external factors to shape outcomes...

Click HERE to read more from AEW

Trump 2.0 and the implications for energy transition

US President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican control of both houses of Congress is expected to have significant economic and policy implications, particularly for renewable energy. In a recent webinar, we explore the potential impacts for investors and discuss why we continue to believe the US energy transition sector is a compelling investment. Listen to an insightful discussion on:

• How the election results and cabinet appointments may influence US policy and financial regulations
• The macroeconomic outlook and key policy issues, including tariffs and trade
• Structural and long-term drivers of the renewable energy sector, including increased demand for power due to artificial intelligence (AI)

Click HERE to watch 麦格理集团 's replay

2025 Global Fixed Income Outlook

Throughout this outlook, we aim to provide a comprehensive analysis of anticipated trends in fixed income markets, highlighting key areas of opportunity and caution for investors. We will discuss our views on economic conditions, bond yields, credit markets, currencies, and the major risks we believe may arise in the year ahead.

Click HERE to read more from Morgan Stanley Investment Management

5 for ‘25: Five macro themes to watch in 2025

As we inch closer to the end of 2024, we examine the five macroeconomic themes we project for 2025.

From slowing monetary policy easing, rising fiscal sustainability concerns, winners and losers from the changing patterns of globalization, and major sources of political and geopolitical risk, we explore what we believe are the top five macroeconomic trends to watch for in 2025.

Click HERE to read more from aberdeen

Co-Investments: Dispelling the Myth of Adverse Selection

Key Takeaways

• Intuitively, lead GPs are significantly motivated to cultivate strong, long-tenured relationships with LPs; providing co-investment opportunities with less favorable prospects would be directly at odds with this primary objective
• Adams Street’s experience co-investing across multiple economic cycles demonstrates no evidence of adverse selection when comparing the performance of deals with co-investment opportunities to all deals completed by a lead GP
• The potential to deliver consistent outperformance requires more than high quality, unbiased deal flow. Co-investment managers with the perspective to assess alignment and transaction fit with the lead GP, and the ability to select only the most attractive investments, are likely best placed to outperform

Click HERE to read more from Adams Street Partners

DeepSeek: An AI Innovation Milestone, Not a Disruptor

Key Takeaways

• DeepSeek’s progress is an incremental step forward in the AI innovation journey, and if AI models do indeed become much cheaper to train and run, AI adoption will accelerate.
• DeepSeek’s results are impressive, but its technology was built on open-source code, not made from scratch; in addition, its widely cited $6 million training figure likely represents only the final training iteration.
• AI related investments and innovations are still needed to drive progress towards new AI breakthroughs, including artificial general intelligence.?

Click HERE to read more from Voya Investment Management

Sweet success? A cocoa boost for West Africa's frontier markets

A look at what the upsurge in cocoa prices could mean for C?te d’Ivoire and Ghana, two of the leading cocoa-producing countries.

Thanks to favorable weather conditions and the timely use of fertilizers and pesticides, cocoa production in West Africa, specifically the neighboring nations of C?te d’Ivoire and Ghana, is expected to rebound in the 2024–25 crop season.

Click HERE to read more from aberdeen

The BEAT - Outlook for 2025

The investment environment to start the new year is quite interesting. Equity and fixed income markets appear to be fully valued and the Republican sweep in the U.S. could have global ramifications. China continues to struggle to find its footing, while AI might provide significant investment opportunities in alternative investing. The Portfolio Solutions Group looks at five key areas going into 2025.

Click HERE to read more from Morgan Stanley Investment Management