Compardo, Wienstroer, Conrad & Janes at Moneta: February 2022

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Ask the CFP: What is a Donor Advised Fund?

Hello everyone and welcome to this month’s Ask the CFP segment. This month’s question is, “What is a Donor-Advised Fund?” A Donor-Advised Fund is a tool that can be used to help facilitate donations to charity while providing potential tax benefits to the donor. They’re largely used as a tool that makes charitable giving more convenient, while also providing some flexibility. While the first Donor-Advised Funds were created in the 1930s, they’ve grown in popularity over the last decade as institutions such as Charles Schwab and Fidelity have made them more cost-effective and easier to use.

Donor-Advised Funds can be thought of as special accounts where donations can be gifted, but the donor can maintain some control over how their donations are treated after being gifting. For example, I can donate $10,000 to a Donor-Advised Fund and receive an income tax deduction, but I can then decide to invest my $10,000 gift into mutual funds in hopes that my gift will grow to $12,000. One major benefit to Donor-Advised Funds is the ability to invest the dollars after being gifted. I can also decide to keep my $10,000 gift in my Donor-Advised Fund for a year or more before giving it to a specific charity. This means someone can make a gift to their Donor-Advised Fund to receive a potential current-year tax deduction, but actually send the dollars out of the Donor-Advised Fund to various charities at a later time. Because of this unique timing feature, many people make larger donations to Donor-Advised Funds in a single year for a larger tax deduction, while then gifting the dollars to charity in the following years. It’s a bit like taking three to five years worth of donations you were planning on making anyway and grouping them into one tax year for tax reasons, especially if that tax year is higher than normal.

Another reason many people enjoy their Donor-Advised Fund is the ease of making gifts into and out of the fund. You can gift cash into the fund, but you can also gift appreciated stock. With appreciated stock, if you paid $10,000 for a stock that’s now grown to $20,000, you obviously have $10,000 of gains. As long as those gains are long-term capital gains, the IRS allows you to transfer appreciated stock into a Donor-Advised Fund to receive a potential tax deduction on the pre-tax amount of $20,000. This means you could receive a double tax benefit by deducting the value of the stock as well as avoiding long-term capital gains taxes. If you want to give money to 10 different charities, rather than transferring various stocks to each one, you can make one transfer to a Donor-Advised Fund and then gift cash to each charity from the fund. Speaking from experience, it’s much easier this way. Some Donor-Advised Funds also allow for the donation of real estate, life insurance, cryptocurrency and business assets.

It’s worth noting that most Donor-Advised Funds do require a minimum amount of gifting out of the fund every year or so, such as $50. It’s also worth noting that gifts from a Donor-Advised Fund must generally be made to a house of worship, government agency or a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Since the dollars must be ultimately gifted to charitable causes, the IRS allows some level of flexibility and benefit by using a Donor-Advised Fund. Overall, it’s no surprise why this unique tool continues to grow in popularity, especially for those that are charitably inclined.

If you have a question about this topic or have a question for next month’s video, please send it to MPeek@monetagroup.com. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you next month.

©2022, Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC. Trademarks and copyrights of materials referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. These materials have been prepared for informational purposes only based on materials deemed reliable, but the accuracy of which has not been verified. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. You cannot invest directly in an index. These materials do not constitute an offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities, and do not take into consideration your circumstances, financial or otherwise. You should consult with an appropriately credentialed investment professional before making any investment decision.

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A Full-Blown Assault on the Ukraine jolts Markets and Commodities

Aoifinn Devitt | Chief Investment Officer
Chris Kamykowski, CFA, CFP® | Head of Investment Strategy and Research

As the Russia/Ukraine situation took a tragic turn overnight, governments are jostling to respond to the most blatant act of aggression in Europe since World War II. As the rhetoric moves beyond sanctions to fear of casualties, cyber-attacks and an upending of world order of the past 30 years, Russian and Ukrainian assets have plummeted.

We do not profess to have any edge on the outcome of the conflict. With the path of Western intervention far from certain, and diplomatic overtures dead in the water, there are many different scenarios that could unfold. We can, however, speak to why markets are reacting as they are and what lessons investors should draw from history in order to ride out the current volatility.

Markets abhor uncertainty and even though the current crisis has been building since October 2021, the events still had a feel of “surprise’ given the diplomatic wrestling to the 11^th hour.

The ramifications for the commodities complex are real and are already being reflected in the oil price which is currently over $103 per barrel as we write.

Russia produces over one third of the world’s oil supply and 40% of its natural gas, so events suggest a strain on already stretched energy markets. Ukraine is a significant exporter of iron ore and serves as a “breadbasket” within European agriculture with its output estimated to feed over 600 million people.

History suggests that geo-political conflicts typically only compound the dynamics that were already in place in markets; in this case, markets were already fragile, displaying sharp volatility and sitting at or near the technical definition for a market correction (-10%) as seen in the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Since mid-December 2021, they have been jostled by inflation fears, the new assertive stance from the US Fed towards pending rate rises, and a cooling off sentiment towards high growth tech stocks. However, the sell-off has not been universal. “Old economy” stocks such as energy names, as well as financials which would benefit from higher interest rates, have been well-supported, although to date energy is the only S&P sector in positive territory.

While the sell-off in Russian and Ukrainian assets has been stark developed markets are showing weakness but not severe losses so far through mid-day on 2/24/2022. Additionally, safe haven assets, such as the US Dollar and gold, are modestly higher on the day.

Given the levels of uncertainty currently, markets will need some days to digest the developments and assess what the likely next steps are. Just as in the case of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the closures from Covid-19, and other geo-political shocks, there will be a period of panic, one of taking stock, and a re-setting of expectations. They key drivers of the economic recovery post-Covid remain the same. Current events in Ukraine certainly turn up the dial on energy prices and inflation, but there are relief valves for those too – such as releasing energy reserves. We do not believe these events will affect US employment, consumer spending, or technology trends. The threat of cyber-attacks as acts of war may paralyze some services, but we expect that these will be isolated and not widespread.

Therefore, we recommend not trying to trade this event – but staying close to the news flow, retaining balance across portfolios (watching the diversifying effect of inflation hedges and low-risk fixed income) and staying the course.

The post A Full-Blown Assault on the Ukraine jolts Markets and Commodities appeared first on Moneta Group .

source https://monetagroup.com/blog/a-full-blown-assault-on-the-ukraine-jolts-markets-and-commodities/

Tuesday, February 22, 2022

Frying Pan into the Fire: Geopolitical risks taunt already unsettled markets

Aoifinn Devitt | Chief Investment Officer
Chris Kamykowski, CFA, CFP® | Head of Investment Strategy and Research

In mid-January, a headline in the Wall Street Journal screamed that “Omicron (had) killed certitude.” The opinion-writer was right; in the first few weeks of the year, certitude has been replaced by sharp market sell-offs, worries around inflation, shifting interest rate expectations, and the specter of war between Russia and the Ukraine.

Over recent months, inflation speculation and indicators finally “crossed over” beyond what policy makers could tolerate and – with a shift in rhetoric – a new “assertive” stance was telegraphed. Inflation levels are at a 40-year high (7.5%) in the US, with a similar pattern in other developed markets, and wage pressures mounting.

This has quickly driven speculation as to the pace and magnitude of future rate rises, with most estimates pricing in 4-5 rate rises in 2022 and some expecting a double (50 bps) rate rise in March as occurred in the United Kingdom, where the Bank of England initiated back-to-back rate rises in January and February – the first time that it has done so since 2004.

Despite the US 10-year nudging above 2% just recently, the yield curve remains remarkably flat, suggesting that rate rises might see a ceiling relatively soon and that the current wave of inflation will not be sustained or drive relentless upward pressure on interest rates. Other factors that suggest the current wave of inflation may prove less sticky are the ongoing strong dollar, the lack of a rush into traditional inflation hedges like gold, and the suggestion that supply chain issues will ease as COVID restrictions are lifted.

For now, supply chain issues and labour shortages are persisting, with energy prices and anomalies such as used car prices driving much of the increase while house prices are also continuing to soar. We recommend building inflation resilience in portfolios by maintaining exposure to inflation-linked assets such as real estate, infrastructure and traditional equities, which tend to provide protection in inflationary environments.

Markets have been decidedly less enthusiastic about the high-growth tech stocks that drove markets since March 2020. Since the beginning of the year, both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are in negative territory. Markets have seen a rotation in favor of value stocks and “old economy” stocks such as banks who would benefit from a higher rate environment.

Geo-political concerns have also taken their toll on markets after months of markets shrugging off geopolitical developments. Most prominent at the moment are the ongoing actions by Russia in Ukraine, which have stoked fears of war for the markets and Western government leaders this year. As of February 21, 2022, Russia has formally recognized two separatist, rebel-held regions in the Ukraine as independent and ordered Russian troops into these regions to serve as “peacekeepers.” Western leaders have condemned these actions, characterizing the actions as an “invasion” and announcing efforts to implement sanctions on Russia. Germany was the first to respond with actions as it halted the approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the $10 billion pipeline carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany. This comes even as energy supplies are already fraught with supply chain shortages and high pricing, as many consumers have experienced at the gas pump or in their heating bill. The US followed this up with additional sanctions such as limiting Russia’s access to Western capital markets and measures targeting key Russian individuals and banks.

Overall, as of this writing, markets are taking the news in stride with modest losses in US and European markets; to be sure, the S&P 500 entered the correction zone as it is down 10% from its early January high. Commodities have been well behaved, although slightly higher, and US Treasury yields are up modestly. The same cannot be said for Russian equities; The MSCI Russia index is down -16% in February and -22% year-to-date (Russia represents 3% of the MSCI Emerging Markets index). This is similar to market reaction to the 2014 Russian take-over of Crimea from Ukraine. While there were other factors at play that year (as there are today), markets generally came out of the conflict in decent shape with the exception of Russia, which had the double hit of economic sanctions and oil crashing in late 2014.

As with any confluence of events outside of one’s control, investors may be seeking to “do something” because of the uncertainty arising from a variety of market narratives. However, our recommendation remains the same: stick with the long-term investment plan aligned with one’s goals and risk tolerance while maintaining a diversified portfolio to help weather volatility that the market will undoubtedly experience throughout each year. This strategic approach is aimed at preventing short-term allocation shifts over near-term events, which can create an unnecessary drag on long-term investment results. Broad-based exposures to a variety of asset classes, styles, sub-sectors, and regions will have both winners and losers over time, but will help keep one on the path to success even as markets and events test one’s patience.

The post Frying Pan into the Fire: Geopolitical risks taunt already unsettled markets appeared first on Moneta Group .

source https://monetagroup.com/blog/frying-pan-into-the-fire-geopolitical-risks-taunt-already-unsettled-markets/

Moneta CEO Eric Kittner honored among St. Louis “Titan 100”

Moneta CEO Eric Kittner was selected as a recipient of the St. Louis 2022 Titan 100, recognizing him among the area’s top CEOs and C-level executives.

“The Titan 100 are shaping the future of St. Louis’ business community by building a distinguished reputation that is unrivaled and preeminent in their field,” said President of Titan CEO, Jaime Zawmon. “We proudly recognize the Titan 100 for their successes and contributions. We know that they will have a profound impact that makes an extraordinary difference for their customers and clients across the nation.”

The press release announcing the Titan 100 describes the group as the area’s most accomplished business leaders in their industry based on criteria that includes demonstrating exceptional leadership, vision and passion. Collectively, the 2022 Titan 100 and their companies employ more than 38,000 individuals and generate over $15.7 billion dollars in annual revenues.

The post Moneta CEO Eric Kittner honored among St. Louis “Titan 100” appeared first on Moneta Group .

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Barron’s features Moneta CEO Eric Kittner among Wealth Management’s Next-Gen CEOs

Moneta CEO Eric Kittner was only 39 years old when he stepped up as the firm’s top executive. It marked a seminal moment in Moneta’s history as the founders passed the firm off to the next generation.

“There are very few firms of our size that would be willing to take that giant leap of faith to turn leadership over to a 39-year-old,” Eric said.

Eric was charged with continuing Moneta’s growth by expanding its national footprint beyond St. Louis for the first time in the firm’s 150-year history – all while making sure it doesn’t lose the culture that he credits for its success. Three expansions and two acquisitions later, Eric’s tenure as Moneta’s top executive is off to an incredibly successful start.

Now at age 42, Eric is being recognized as a top executive in the industry by Barron’s, which featured him in a lengthy story title, “Finding and Cultivating Wealth Management’s Next-Gen CEOs.”

According to the article, Philip Palaveev, a veteran industry practice management consultant who runs the G2 Leadership Institute, a management “boot camp” for young executives, estimates that less than 10% of RIAs have CEOs in their 30s or early 40s. The lack of succession planning that is causing so many RIA owners to sell their businesses is a major cause of the dearth of younger industry leaders.

Eric is quoted several times throughout the story:

“Don’t show me how to drive on a simulator—get me out on the road!”

“As younger executives we have a longer runway ahead of us and as a result are willing to do things that someone with only five or seven years to go may not.”

“We’re a firm with $30 billion in AUM and want to keep growing. And it’s clear you can’t do that without achieving the right balance of solid organic growth and a smart M&A strategy. That hasn’t changed.”

The post Barron’s features Moneta CEO Eric Kittner among Wealth Management’s Next-Gen CEOs appeared first on Moneta Group .

source https://monetagroup.com/blog/barrons-features-moneta-ceo-eric-kittner-among-wealth-managements-next-gen-ceos/

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Does your bonus plan include Restricted Stock Awards?

Executive compensation can be paid in multiple ways, including the use of company stock through a Restricted Stock plan. Restricted stock is an award of stock with some sort of restriction. The most common is a time restriction, but it could also be based on specific performance metrics. These details are outlined when you receive the award.

Let’s walk through an example of a typical Restricted Stock award that has a time restriction created by a vesting schedule. You receive an award of 500 shares of company stock on January 1 with a vesting schedule of four years – 25% vested each year. One year from the original date, you will have 125 shares vested. You will continue to receive 125 shares each year until the end of the four years.

Date	01/01/2021	01/01/2022	01/01/2023	01/01/2024
Shares Vested	125	125	125	125

Once shares have vested, you own the shares outright. You can sell the shares or transfer the shares to another account.

Taxes are triggered at the time of vesting, not at the time of the award. This provides an opportunity for income deferral with the hope that the stock price will increase, thus creating an increased value at the future vesting.

Upon vesting, you will recognize income equal to the stock’s fair market value. This income is subject to ordinary income tax as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes. The company may offer to coordinate the various tax withholdings by selling a portion of the vested shares. One item to note is that the minimum Federal withholding is normally insufficient. It is important to coordinate with your CPA to ensure proper tax coverage.

If you elect to hold the shares, capital gains or losses apply upon the future sale of the shares.

We look forward to working with you to develop a strategy to incorporate your equity awards into the overall planning.

If you have more financial questions, don’t hesitate to ask your Family CFO. We do more so you can too.

© 2022 Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC. All rights reserved. Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC is an SEC registered investment advisor and wholly owned subsidiary of Moneta Group, LLC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Moneta is a service mark owned by Moneta Group, LLC. The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice for any individual. Examples contained herein are for illustrative purposes only based on generic assumptions. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities, nor does it represent a specific recommendation. Please speak with a qualified tax, legal or investment professional before making any changes to your personal situation.

The post Does your bonus plan include Restricted Stock Awards? appeared first on Moneta Group .

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Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Moneta named Top Workplace for ninth consecutive year

As Moneta’s national footprint grows, so do the awards.

After eight straight years of being recognized as a Top Workplace in St. Louis from 2014-2021, Moneta was named among the “Top Workplaces USA” award winners for the second straight year in 2022.

Moneta also ranked in the top 25% across all similarly sized companies in six of 12 key culture categories evaluated in the survey: Company Direction, Cross-Team Collaboration, Leaders In-The-Know, Meaningful Work, Open Minded Culture, and Supportive Managers.

All these awards highlighted Moneta as an ideal landing spot for top talent in the wealth management industry. Ambitious financial advisors who want to be a part of something bigger will find the rare combination of an entrepreneurial culture backed by large-scale resources. Young professionals early in their career or new to the industry will find a company eager to invest in their growth through Moneta University, the firm’s talent and organizational development program that InvestmentNews called “inspirational” for the rest of the industry.

Moneta welcomed two new Partners in 2021 as the firm expanded to the Greater Boston Area. The move came after Moneta added a new Partner in Kansas City in 2020 and two new Partners in Denver in 2019.

The post Moneta named Top Workplace for ninth consecutive year appeared first on Moneta Group .

source https://monetagroup.com/blog/moneta-named-top-workplace-for-ninth-consecutive-year/

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Investment Report: The Year Ends on a Defiant High Note

By Aoifinn Devitt | Chief Investment Officer

Highlights

The fourth quarter saw new highs in US equity markets as markets continued to display the stubborn resilience that has characterized much of the post-COVID rally. Volatility did spike as the quarter rolled on though, suggesting a growing discomfort with surrounding risks as the quarter advanced. Large cap again trumped small cap domestically and US markets outperformed global markets in a repeat of their recent pattern. Sectors in favor rotated towards value-oriented from growth-oriented names towards the end of the quarter.
Geopolitical risks included tensions between the US and Russia with respect to the Ukraine, as well as growing evidence of the lengths to which some Asian economies are willing to go to mitigate COVID risk, and as the quarter progressed more awareness of these risks was evident.
The Omicron variant sent global COVID case numbers soaring, tripping up corporate plans to reopen and the hospitality industry’s nascent recovery, while new measures around quarantine, masking and travel restrictions only served to muddy the waters and cause sentiment to falter.
Inflation and its rise globally was the dominant narrative of the fourth quarter as rates reached multi-decade highs, rising to 7% for the month of December (reported in January 2022). The US Federal Reserve began to signal a more aggressive stance towards both reining in bond purchases (tapering) and interest rate increases, and this led to mortgage rates reaching their highest level since April 2020.
Fixed income returns were muted for the quarter, with the notable exception being TIPS, which responded to rising inflation, as might be expected.
Real assets saw strong demand as traditional inflation resilient assets, and REITs in particular saw a rise of more than 17% for the quarter, bringing their return to slightly more than 43% for the full year.

Macro Stories

The Omicron variant and its rapid spread was not the coda that investors expected in 2021, which ended in a more chaotic and unsettled state than even 2020. With breakthrough cases widespread and broad encouragement of a third booster shot, the hope that vaccinations would spell the end of COVID seemed to evaporate. The evidence of lower hospitalization and death rates did point to the variant being milder, but the specter of high case numbers did initially seem to foreshadow a winter of renewed shutdowns. As the chart below shows, though, markets slowly but steadily girded themselves against COVID-related setbacks:

The US dollar remained strong as the global macro picture seemed equally unclear amid ongoing COVID shutdowns and economic setbacks.

Last quarter, we showed the faltering of the Purchasing Managers Index globally. As the chart below shows, sentiment as measured by the Purchasing Managers Index continued to be volatile.

The inflation levels reported reflecting 2021 saw levels at a 40-year high.

The Fed dot plot and its evolution indicates the adoption of a more aggressive stance by the Fed in the face of mounting inflation. The first step in the two-pronged assault will be the reduction of the bond buying program, while the second is likely to be kicking off a rate rise trajectory as early as March 2022.

US unemployment continues to track downwards and hit a post pandemic low of 3.9% in December 2021. Job openings are at multi-decade highs and the time needed to fill an opening is now well-over a month. The imbalance in the labor market has taken some economists by surprise, given that many expected workers would flood the job market after enhanced pandemic unemployment benefits ended in early September.

Energy prices eased initially in the quarter but spiked again at year end, leading to a total return for US Brent Oil of close to 62% for the calendar year. Clearly seen as a barometer of economic activity and outlook, the downward movement in oil prices took the sting out of some of the sharp year-end inflation figures.

Precious metals such as gold continue to languish (-4.33% for the year despite a recovery of 3.9% in the fourth quarter). Maybe this is due to the appearance from the wings of another shiny object – cryptocurrency, which is quickly establishing itself as a risk/reward asset that sits at the outer edge of the risk/reward spectrum.

Asset Class Performance

The fourth quarter marked a welcome respite from a lack-luster third quarter for asset returns, as the chart below shows, with every asset class in positive territory or thereabouts, and only Emerging Markets equities showing a negative return (-1.3%). Real assets and real estate (REITs) surged as inflation remained elevated, while domestic equities were dominated by large cap stocks. Fixed income was led by TIPs, reflecting the higher inflationary levels, while core bonds and even high yield barely registered a positive return for the quarter.

The Russell 1000 delivered nearly 10% for the quarter, bringing the year-to-date performance to +28.7%. The Russell 2000 only added 2.14% in the fourth quarter (+14.8% year to date).

Non–US markets continued to lag, and the MSCI Emerging Markets index lost 1.3% during the quarter, leading to a still-negative year to date (-2.54%).

All sectors saw gains, as shown below, particularly consumer staples and utilities.

US Market Cap and Style Returns

The chart below shows the rotation to value and the decline towards the end of the quarter of sentiment towards growth stocks. This theme played out spectacularly in January 2022 as investors soured on some of the higher valuation tech stocks.

Moving to fixed income, per the chart below, the US Treasury yield curve saw a steepening as the long end responded to the prospect of higher rates. It is still relatively flat, however, indicating a muted long-term outlook.

Overall, the quarter was another relatively flat one for the fixed income asset class. Core bonds eked out a very modest return and high-yield returns were again just shy of 1%, bringing year-to-date returns for this asset class to 5.3%.

Outlook

As we write, we are in the throes of a volatile start to the year in markets in 2022. The past week saw the S&P enter correction territory (-10% from its most recent high) and it currently looks to be the worst month since March 2020 for the S&P. Late January saw the markets stage dramatic intra-day reversals with the Dow recovering from losing more than 1000 points for the first time in history. Nasdaq saw its own biggest intra-day reversal since 2008.
More volatility is likely to persist as the markets continue to focus on future interest rate action by the Federal Reserve, geopolitical tensions fester and inflation hovers at new highs.
We continue to watch for reversion to the mean in non-US markets as those economies diverge in their approach to “living with COVID” (e.g. the UK, much of the EU compared with Asian economies). This would drive currencies such as the Euro and the GBP and maybe steal some of the thunder from the US equity markets as the year evolves.
Last quarter, we mentioned the fanfare of the UN Conference of the Parties in Glasgow on October 31 (COP26). As expected, we saw the announcements from that event focusing on methane reduction, re-forestation, the generation of more incentives around “green finance” and a pledge to assist developing economies meet global standards and accelerate the energy transition away from fossil fuels. We expect investment in and the development of investment products around these initiatives to pick up pace throughout 2022 and believe sectors such as renewable energy, battery storage and electric vehicles will continue to see strong investor interest.

Asset Class Performance – Index Mapping

Definitions

S&P 500 Index: is a free-float capitalization-weighted index of the prices of 500 large-cap common stocks actively traded in the United States.

Markit Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI): is a weighted average of the Manufacturing Output Index and Services Business Activity Index.

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average, Percent Change from Year Ago, Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted. It is a measure of the average monthly change in the price for goods and services paid by urban consumers between any two time periods. It can also represent the buying habits of urban consumers. This particular index includes roughly 88 percent of the total population, accounting for wage earners, clerical workers, technical workers, self-employed, short-term workers, unemployed, retirees, and those not in the labor force.

Assets: Represents US Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities held outright by the Federal Reserve. Millions of U.S. Dollars, Weekly, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Job Openings: Total Nonfarm, Level in Thousands, Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted

Hires: Total Nonfarm, Level in Thousands, Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted

Spot Crude Oil Prices: West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Dollars per Barrel, Monthly, Not Seasonally Adjusted

Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (GBTC): managed by Grayscale Advisors, LLC, provides a a secure structure to gain exposure to BTC. Eligible shares are quoted
on the OTCQX®.

Russel 1000® Index: measures the performance of the large-cap segment of the US equity universe. It is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index and includes approximately 1,000 of the largest securities based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. The Russell 1000 represents approximately 93% of the US market.

Russell Sub-Sector Indices: The Russell sub-sector indices measure the performance of companies in the Russell 1000 index that are specific to the respective sub-sector.

US Treasury Bonds: are government debt securities issued by the U.S. government. The interest rates represent the annual yield provided to an investor for each level of maturity.

Bloomberg US Agg Corporate Average OAS: The option-adjusted spread (OAS) is the measurement of the spread of a fixed-income security rate and the risk-free rate of return, which is adjusted to take into account an embedded option.

Bloomberg US Corporate High Yield Average OAS: The option-adjusted spread (OAS) is the measurement of the spread of a fixed-income security rate and the risk-free rate of return, which is adjusted to take into account an embedded option.

The post Investment Report: The Year Ends on a Defiant High Note appeared first on Moneta Group .

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Compardo, Wienstroer, Conrad & Janes at Moneta