Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
    • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
    • 2022 WorldPensionSummit
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. INVESTING & PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES
October 05, 2015 01:00 AM

Upending careers, portfolios

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Roger Schillerstrom

    Janet L. Yellen, chairwoman of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, in a speech Sept. 24 declared her expectation the Federal Open Market Committee will raise interest rates before the end the year. An increase would put the Federal Reserve's monetary policy into new territory, not seen in almost 10 years since the Fed began to push down interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy. It also will put most asset owner fiduciaries and institutional investments managers into a landscape they haven't experienced.

    Interest rates pretty much have fallen steadily for 34 years, the working lives of most institutional investors, with only relatively brief periods of increases, creating a bullish market for bonds.

    Careers have been built on more than three decades of generally falling rates. Institutional investors have structured their fixed-income strategies on that experience. An increase in the fed funds rate is no black swan event, catching institutional investors by surprise. Investors have had plenty of warning. Asset owner fiduciaries and other institutional investors should already be addressing the challenge a rate increase will mean, especially if it is only the first of many.

    Rising rates could be ruthless on the value of bond portfolios. Asset owners, through diversifying asset allocation and tactical strategies, already should be preparing for the impact rising rates could have on the value of their portfolios.

    The FOMC has kept the fed funds rate in a range of between zero and 0.25% since it first lowered the rate to that range in December 2008 to provide liquidity to the market during the financial crisis. Its move then was the first time it lowered the rate under 1%. The rate has been kept there for almost seven years — the longest period, at least in modern times, the rate has remained at any level. The last time the FOMC raised the fed funds rate was June 29, 2006, when it went to 5.25% from 5%.

    A rate rise challenges liability-driven investing and risk-parity strategies, as well as asset owners hesitant about implementing LDI because low rates have made fixed-income instruments expensive. For them, triggering implementation is a question of timing the market. Academic research shows market timing strategies generally don't perform well.

    Fixed income, long sought as a safe haven, has been a powerful return generator for more than a generation of institutional investors. Since the beginning of 1982 through the end of 2014, the total return on long-term government bonds has been an annualized 10.4%, while the total return on the S&P 500 in the same time frame has been an annualized 11.8%, according to the “Ibbotson SBBI Classic 2015 Yearbook,” produced by Ibbotson Associates Inc., a unit of Morningstar Inc.

    The environment of low yields in recent years has helped drive some asset owners away from a once dependable safe haven to diversify into alternative asset classes. How well greater diversification will pay off is something asset owners cannot just wait to play out. They have to allocate their portfolios to better manage risk and opportunities.

    Related Articles
    Fed keeps rates at same level
    Adapting to a changed fixed-income landscape
    Recommended for You
    More funds testing water on crypto-related assets
    More funds testing water on crypto-related assets
    Money managers eager to make leap to opportunity zone investing
    Money managers eager to make leap to opportunity zone investing
    Index investing: Not as passive as you might think
    Index investing: Not as passive as you might think
    SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity
    Sponsored Content: SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity

    Reader Poll

    June 6, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Nearing the finish line: Ideas on end-state investing for corporate DB plans
    The Meaning of "Portfolio Intelligence"
    Credit Indices: Closing the Fixed Income Evolutionary Gap
    Forever in Style: Benchmarking with the Morningstar® Broad Style Indexes℠
    Crossroads: Politics, Inflation, & Bonds
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    June 20, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
      • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
      • 2022 WorldPensionSummit