Is your portfolio well-positioned to take advantage of international opportunities? Brandes Investment Partners believes there are compelling reasons why now is the time to cast a longer look at international equities. Including: Access to more opportunities Diversification potential Return reversion potential [+] Read More

In the first quarter of 2016, investors feared that weak conditions in many emerging markets, commodities and global manufacturing would deteriorate into a full blown recession across the developed world and China. As stock markets struggled, equity investors overwhelmingly preferred defensive stocks and gave an unusually generous discount to companies vulnerable to weak economic activity and low interest rates. But the recession never arrived. Reduced fiscal austerity and continued easy monetary policy, coupled with greater confidence in the industrial sector and increased bank lending, have reignited global growth. Commodity prices have rallied, and the outlook for corporate profits now appears better than it has in several years. Though equity markets have moved quickly to price in the welcomed shift, we still see opportunities, especially outside the U.S., after many years of substantial returns for the S&P 500. Read the entire market commentary here. [+] Read More

Global growth expectations are on the rise, and we see room for more upside surprises... Reflation is going global. The signs include a rebound in inflation expectations, a bottoming out in core inflation and wages, and a synchronized pick-up in economic activity indicators and corporate earnings estimates. Read the key points of BlackRock's analysis below. Or, download the complete commentary (PDF). [+] Read More

While market concerns had investors scrambling for the exists, Cambiar Investors took advantage of the market weakness in Q3 to deploy capital into a number of new investments. Read their Q3 2015 commentary below. "Market Review After fairly muted performance for the first half of 2015, global equities sold off in the third quarter. In contrast to prior pullbacks that were often met with buyers stepping in to buy the dips, investor sentiment towards stocks deteriorated considerably in the quarter. A popular Wall Street phrase is “stocks climb a wall of worry” – referring to the tendency for equity markets to overcome a host of negative factors and move higher. Yet is seems the wall got too high in the quarter. Global growth fears (led by China), increasing uncertainty of U.S. monetary policy, and continued pressure in Emerging Markets were just some of the concerns that had investors scrambling for the exits. While all of these factors warrant careful consideration, it is Cambiar’s view that the correction in the quarter was of the “shoot first/ask questions later” variety, vs. fundamentally driven. Given our value orientation, such reflexive selling can provide attractive entry points; to that extent, Cambiar used the market weakness to deploy capital into a number of new investments during the quarter. [+] Read More

2015 has been a challenging year so far for many asset classes, but Emerging Markets and Commodities are two categories in particular that have felt pronounced downward pressure throughout. Emerging Markets (as measured by the iShares Emerging Markets Index ETF, ticker EEM) are down around 10% year-to-date through October 20,1 and commodities have fared even worse—in the third quarter prices cratered, with Brent Crude Oil and West Texas Intermediate down -23.6% and -23.7%, respectively, and with copper -10.7%, gold -5%, and silver -7.5% all losing ground as well.2 The questions on many investors’ minds are: is the slump over? Are these attractive levels to buy-in to Emerging Markets and commodities? [+] Read More