Global Equity and International Fund Strategies First Quarter 2015 Review

Global Macro Review We had the opportunity to attend a key Asia Pacific investment conference in Hong Kong during the quarter. A number of high profile speakers provided an interesting overview of topics that were current. One of the speakers that resonated the mood of today’s market was Professor Shiller, a Nobel Laureate and noted real estate expert. He observed that global asset prices have decoupled somewhat from economic fundamentals, driven higher in part by investors hoping to weather rapid economic changes and fearing for their futures. He continued to speak of an overall anxiety, reflecting a time where people are thinking of their own obsolescence and the speed of how things change. We shall start this quarterly review with a conclusion provided by Professor Shiller which is to be invested in stocks globally while downplaying U.S. equities given the relatively cheaper valuation found in Asian and European stock markets.

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