Lord Abbett

What NBC (Olympics Coverage) Can Learn From Asset Managers?

Posted by Anu Heda on Aug 23, 2016, in Thoughts , tagged with ,

The Rio 2016 Olympics captivated my family from the opening night to the closing ceremonies. We cheered Team USA from our little corner of Brooklyn whenever possible; that’s usually after dinner. From relishing the Team USA soccer victory over France to lamenting Mara Abbot’s cruel loss cycling (my 11-year old actually began crying), we took in more than our fair share. But it’s been a struggle in some ways.

I know NBC is streaming everything and that works pretty well (though the west coast – east coast tape delay issue seems so odd to me). My biggest complaint is an inability to see a schedule per sport, per nation. This use case seems so straightforward I’ve started questioning my frame of reference. Aren’t others frustrated? For instance, my son has some interest in rugby (presumably from Cal’s annually dominant performance each May). So on day 1, I went to NBCOlympics.com looking to answer when will Team USA men’s rugby play? In my mind, this is akin to where is your mid-cap growth fund’s fact sheet? It’s a typical use case in the asset management industry. Persevering for a few minutes, I found a way, through the Rugby feed to TV listings, but that requires scrolling through days and days of matches to find Team USA’s 3 preliminary matches.

When I visit the Lord Abbett home page (click image below), I’m immediately greeted with “Documents & Forms” to the right-hand side. Two clicks later, I’m downloading that fact sheet. Why can’t I have that experience for the Olympics? Is NBCOlympics.com designed for the Millennial consumer, not a Gen X dad?Lord Abbett Home Page (Olympics comparison)

 

Best Blogs of the Week #227

Posted by Anu Heda on Apr 18, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with ,

This week’s best blogs includes only two posts. Both posts highlighted here cover macroeconomic issues impacting investors’ perspectives. They’re both heavily covered by the financial news.

BlackRock – The key ingredient needed for future returns  – Going forward, the market tailwinds from debt-fueled dividend growth and buybacks will fade, and we see limited scope for further increases in U.S. equity valuations.

Lord Abbett – Emerging Markets Are Looking Attractive Again – Despite the large rally in the representative Barclays Global Emerging Market Strategy (GEMS) Index—as of April 4, 2016, up 7% from its low on January 21—we believe that there is room for further appreciation.

Best Blogs of the Week #224

Posted by Anu Heda on Mar 28, 2016, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Three posts from different blogs this week covering emerging markets, pension plans and Valeant.

Lord Abbett – The Growth Investor: Lessons from the Valeant Struggle – The takeaway for growth investors is clear: the high-growth universe is full of big winners and big pretenders.

Russell – The pension plan herd has broken up – For me, the most striking feature is the divergence between the investment approaches. Once upon a time, pension plans paid a lot of attention to peer group comparisons.

Wells Fargo – Five reasons emerging markets assets have rebounded– Overall, we assess the developments in China as slightly positive for emerging markets near term. (Helpful chart re: Brazil below)

 

Source: Wells Fargo Advantage Voice

 

Best Blogs of the Week #205

Posted by Anu Heda on Oct 15, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , ,

Slight delay in sharing the best posts of last week (but look a shiny new Naissance Web site).

American Century – CIO Insights

Higher-yielding, higher-credit risk bond sectors tend to perform more like stocks in periods of market stress.

Lord Abbett – Corporate Bonds: A Stampede of Elephant-Sized Deals Hits the Streets

what is the evidence that investors prefer these large, liquid, jumbo deals? Such evidence would be pricing data that showed investors being willing to pay a premium to own those deals. In fact, the data show just the opposite

Natixis – Beyond Allocation

In fact, 77 percent of investors say they go on gut instinct when making financial decisions.2 Thus, advisors are increasingly assuming the role of client therapist, helping clients work through their emotions, endure day-to-day market fluctuations and stay focused on their long-term financial plan.

 

Best Blogs of the Week #200

Posted by Anu Heda on Aug 25, 2015, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Four interesting posts (from last week, so no mention of Monday’s wild day for US equities) to share covering domestic and international issues.

 Wrestling with the Costs of Crumbling Infrastructure –Lord Abbett

“There is some talk that oil price declines have made room for a gasoline tax hike, but otherwise, infrastructure spending will remain hostage to the many other demands already straining federal, state, and local budgets,” said Milton Ezrati.

Macro Matters: China’s Currency Move –PIMCO

If China were merely to embark on aggressive currency depreciation without further domestic monetary easing and market reforms, this should be seen as bad news. Chinese exporters would gain a competitive advantage…

3 Things the European Investment-Grade Fixed Income Team Talked About Last Week –Pioneer (interesting post; rough title) –

“Perhaps the reason that global bonds initially rallied was that the Renminbi (RMB) move was seen as a global deflationary move. A weaker RMB (and other Asian currencies) should mean weaker commodity prices…”

 Thoughts from the China Beige Book –WisdomTree

“… the Chinese currency appreciated by over 20%. The rise in the dollar resulted in the yuan becoming far more expensive compared to its Asian neighbors, which corroded its competitiveness. Given this steep rise in the value of the yuan, the 3% devaluation is rather small by comparison.”