Investors continue to shrug off escalating geopolitical risks and the alarming rise in government debt burdens. Market sentiment remains exuberant, with valuations stretched to extremes, especially in the US. In our latest asset allocation update, we ask: Is this the moment to pivot to a deliberate contrarian stance?

Concerns about a debt crisis in Japan and the uncertain political and economic climate in the US are leading to capital outflows from America and Japan. Can Europe benefit from this through lower interest rates, or will European long-term rates actually be pushed up?

Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) plays a crucial role in an investors’ decision-making process. This report features the quarterly update of three SAA models, their portfolio characteristics and the (proprietary) data we have used to construct the SAA models. In addition, we update the Expected Returns based on the return assumptions of approx. 70 asset managers and present tables with volatility and correlation data for every asset class.