Asset Allocation Outlook – An update into year end

Recent market volatility can feel unsettling for investors, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise given late-cycle dynamics. Join us as Portfolio Managers and CIOs Dan Ivascyn (Income Strategy) and Marc Seidner (Dynamic Bond Strategy) discuss PIMCO’s market outlook, answer top-of-mind client questions and provide actionable ideas to position portfolios for the uncertainty ahead.

In this webcast, Income Fund portfolio managers Dan Ivascyn and Alfred Murata will:
•Provide an update on the fund
•Discuss attribution and portfolio construction
•Address client questions about the fund and our macro outlook

Prepare for what’s ahead with Joachim Fels, global economic advisor, Andrew Balls, CIO global fixed income, and Tina Adatia, portfolio strategist, who provide our global economic outlook for the next six to 12 months and highlight the key risks and opportunities we’re seeing and what they mean for investors.

Markets entered 2018 with double-digit equity returns, strong momentum and expectations that the synchronized global growth and corporate earnings recovery we saw in 2017 will continue into 2018.

However, markets have been more uncertain year-to-date with recent volatility suggesting that change is in the wind for investors. Central banks globally are moving away from emergency levels of easing, and large fiscal stimulus in the U.S. in the late stages of the business cycle could have unintended consequences. And, of course, valuations matter.

So how do you approach the asset allocation conundrum when investing late in the cycle? Join us on the 13th to find out.

Ten years after the financial crisis, the global economy and financial markets look set to enter a new era of potentially radical change. Join Dan Ivascyn, Joachim Fels, Andrew Balls, and Anna Dragesic as we present the findings from our 2018 Secular Outlook and discuss what’s ahead for the global economy and markets.

Introducing Market Intelligence, a CPD-accredited education series that aims to help you expand your knowledge of fixed income and the global markets, while focusing on how to address common client concerns and questions. Visit pimco.co.uk/marketintelligence

PIMCO’s head of ESG strategies discusses the three pillars of the firm’s ESG investment process – exclusion, evaluation and engagement – and how they may be able to lead to better investment outcomes.

PIMCO’s CIO of U.S. Core Strategies and head of ESG Strategies discuss the firm’s evolution in ESG investing and how ESG may affect the debt capital markets going forward.

PIMCO’s CIO of U.S. core strategies and head of ESG strategies discuss the firm’s evolution in ESG investing and how ESG may affect the debt capital markets going forward.

PIMCO’s CIO of U.S. core strategies discusses the importance of the UN’s Sustainable Development goals as a framework for humanely and sustainably broadening and accelerating economic growth.

Scott Mather, CIO U.S. Core Strategies and PIMCO Total Return Fund portfolio manager, and Anmol Sinha, product strategist, provide insights into why rising rates do not necessarily need to be feared and where we see attractive opportunities in the core bond market.

Joachim Fels, Global Economic Advisor, Scott Mather, CIO U.S. Core Strategies, and Olivia Albrecht, ESG and Fixed Income Strategist, Global, discuss our economic outlook across regions and markets, and why we believe that solid growth this year is a near certainty, but the causes of the stronger expansion are more uncertain and could affect its durability.

With key risks on the horizon, portfolio defense may be more important than ever. The portfolio managers behind PIMCO Total Return offer an inside look at the process that has fueled the core bond strategy for decades - and how they are managing the strategy to prepare for what’s ahead.

Barring a zombie apocalypse or a sudden spontaneous collapse in asset prices, PIMCO expects the global expansion to continue in 2018. Yet investors should prepare for both the consequences of policy shifts and the opportunities presented in more difficult market conditions.

As expected the Fed hiked rates in its June meeting, but the unexpected news is the detailed plan it released to shrink and normalize its balance sheet.

Group CIO Dan Ivascyn discusses how PIMCO is positioning portfolios in light of our long-term macroeconomic outlook.

Please join us for a discussion on different approaches to add downside portfolio protection in the current investing environment of lower yields, low volatility and generally neutral or rich valuations. As many investors perceive traditional fixed income solutions to be less attractive in providing downside protection and the cost of outright hedging options seems high, many discussions revolve around other portfolio diversifiers and options to improve resilience of portfolios in the downside scenario. The session will focus on best ways to protect client portfolios and pros and cons of various approaches.

Opinions in the active-passive investment debate have drifted poles apart over recent years. We revisit this discussion by contrasting equity and bonds. We look at performance numbers and find that, unlike their stock counterparts, active bond mutual funds have largely outperformed their median passive peers over our sample period. We offer conjectures as to why bonds and stocks differ. Differences may be due to:

•The large proportion of noneconomic bond investors
•Benchmark rebalancing frequency and turnover
•Structural tilts in fixed income space
•The wide range of financial derivatives available to active bond managers
•Security-level credit research and new issue concessions

In short, informational efficiencies make beating equity markets difficult. But we believe that's not the case with fixed income, where noneconomic and passive investors pursue agendas that are not exclusively about total return
Put simply, bonds are different.

Joachim Fels, Global Economic Advisor, and Portfolio Strategist Olivia Albrecht discuss PIMCO’s forecast for global growth and inflation, highlighting the reasons we have more confidence that the global economic expansion will strengthen and broaden over the cyclical horizon.