Harding Loevner, great manager for international equities.

What was the best market moments of this year?

Every time the market hit a new record

 

What are your market expectations for 2018?  

For 2018, we continue to favor equities over bonds with increased volatility and a three time interest rate hike. We expect a continuation of global growth and favor the financial, technology and energy sectors.

There will be volatility as a result of political uncertainty (elections in Italy, Mexico, Brazil and Russia as well as Brexit negotiations). We also expect strong corporate earnings along with tax reform and continued bank deregulation.

Marco Salín, EuroAmerica AGF

Santiago, Chile

What was your best manager meeting in 2017?

One of the most noteworthy instances was when we were looking to the launch the EuroAmerica MSCI Small Cap Chile ETF, which we ended up doing with the sponsorship of MSCI.

While developing this product we met with Raman Subramanian, MSCI’s head of Equity Applied Research for the Americas, who showed his vast experience in the building, development and evolution of this kind of product.

With that help we have been able to meet the high expectations of our investors, which has at the same time made us very proud that we can offer a vehicle like this one.

What was your high point of 2017?

We were very innovative with several strategies launched this year. Among them is our first real estate fund, which looks to allow prospective investors to capture the core real estate markets in developed countries, with an interesting hedge to the local market.

What are your market expectations for 2018?  

From a Latin America point of view, I think the outlook is positive for next year. Although we’re going to have high volatility levels because of political matters, mainly in Brazil and Mexico, our economies are facing a positive cycle marked by better commodity prices, dropping interest rates and a better growth outlook compared to 2017.

Therefore, despite some political uncertainty, these variables should translate mainly into strong fundamentals not just in terms of macroeconomic indicators but also for company results, supporting the performance of different asset classes in the region.’

And one last market outlook from Alex Polshikov, Itau Asset Management (USA)

New York City, New York, USA

What are your market expectations for 2018?

They are cautiously optimistic. From a 2018 equity outlook, the US and Japan are my preferred destinations. Corporate profits in the US are at multi-cycle highs with steady revenue growth, and limited cost pressure weighing on net income. In Japan, a sustainable pickup in inflation and a focus on shareholder returns are driving a positive corporate operating environment.

Within fixed income, I believe that US high yield markets provides the most attractive opportunity. Although spreads have narrowed, corporate balance in the sector sheets remain robust, providing one of the better risk/return profiles in the fixed income markets.

From a cautionary perspective, we are definitely in a period of heightened exuberance. One significant example of this is the global cryptocurrency craze, which has ballooned to over half a trillion dollars. From my experience it’s impossible to call market tops, and while my opinion is that we’re in the late innings of this business cycle, I don’t see meaningful signs of recession within twelve months.