Market Currents Northern Trust Wealth Management

The topic of inflation is hard to miss — in the news, in your purchases and in your investments. And while its effects might be the most noticeable at the store or the gas pump, the biggest impact can be in your portfolio where it is constantly eroding the purchasing power of your returns. Fortunately, you can prepare for inflation — whether it is high or low — with proven tactics for mitigating the bite it can take out of your investments. 
 
To help us understand the history of inflation and its impact on portfolios, we talk with Pete Mladina, executive director of portfolio research for Northern Trust Wealth Management. In this episode, Pete shares advisory insights on the tools and methods investors can incorporate to safeguard their portfolios effectively. He highlights the importance of diversifying portfolios to balance assets and mitigate risks stemming from inflation. Pete, who also teaches financial economics at UCLA, will guide us through key considerations for selecting inflation-resistant assets and the strategies to adapt their portfolios in response to changing inflationary conditions.
 
Join us as we learn how to skillfully manage the market volatility and economic uncertainties caused by inflation. 

Highlights:
· How to be inflation-sensitive when investing (2:21)
· Valuable tools for managing and mitigating inflation (6:55)
· How to diversify a portfolio with risk control assets (10:56)
· How to combine the power of natural resource equities and commodities (16:11)
· Understanding the outlook of inflation (18:10)
 
Links:


Northern Trust - Wealth Managementhttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/what-we-do/wealth-management


Northern Trust Twitterhttps://twitter.com/NorthernTrust


Katie Nixon Biohttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/insights-research/wealth-management/experts/nixon-katie


Katie Nixon LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-nixon-61783816


Pete Mladina Biohttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/insights-research/wealth-management/experts/mladina-peter


Pete Mladina LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-mladina-177194125/

 
Feedback:
If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer (contactnorthern@ntrs.com).

Virtual reality isn’t science fiction anymore. The biggest companies on the planet have invested heavily in digital worlds, also known as “the metaverse.” And it’s not just the tech and entertainment industries–the metaverse has applications across the economy. Knowing what the metaverse is and how to implement it can drive significant value today and put you ahead of the curve tomorrow; but only if you use it right. 

To help you navigate this emerging technology, we spoke with Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture, the world’s biggest professional services company. Under her leadership, Accenture has been at the forefront of metaverse research, advisement, and adoption. In this episode, Julie shares the three distinct categories of metaverse application, and how companies are implementing the technology today. Together, we explore the power and potential of the enterprise metaverse, and what still needs to be solved before it goes mainstream. Plus, how investors can evaluate these digital worlds.

Join us as we merge the digital and physical worlds and prepare for the not-so-distant future.
Highlights:

The three metaverse categories (3:03)
How AI connects to the metaverse (8:43)
How Accenture prepares companies to adopt metaverse solutions (13:01)
What stands in the way of widespread use (15:01)
The ethics and risks of metaverse technology (17:17)
Why Julie believes metaverse will reinvent how we operate (19:39)



Links:


Northern Trust - Wealth Managementhttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/what-we-do/wealth-management


Northern Trust Twitterhttps://twitter.com/NorthernTrust


Katie Nixon Biohttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/insights-research/wealth-management/experts/nixon-katie


Katie Nixon LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-nixon-61783816


Accenture Websitehttps://www.accenture.com/us-en


Julie Sweet Biohttps://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/leadership/julie-sweet


Julie Sweet LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-sweet/


Metaverse Insights - Accenturehttps://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/metaverse




Feedback:
If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer (contactnorthern@ntrs.com).

Wages are rising and unemployment hit a 50-year low. But while that’s good for job seekers, it’s potentially challenging for policymakers fighting inflation. At the heart of this dynamic is a tight labor market–one where the demand for workers is greater than the supply of jobs. In this episode, we ask: where did the workers go? 
To answer that, we talked to John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the nation’s first executive outplacement firm. John’s firm helps companies support workers transitioning careers or finding new jobs, giving him a unique and broad view of the labor market. And the story is more complicated than just more jobs and fewer workers. In recent months, John has seen differing trends develop across industries like tech, manufacturing, and distribution while changes to remote work and hybrid productivity have added new nuances for workers and employers alike. Together, we unpack who has left the labor force, why, and what industries were hit hardest. Plus, what to make of recent layoffs at some of the nation’s biggest companies. 
Join us as we explore what this means for companies, the marketplace, and you.
Highlights:

Why high employment is seen as a problem (2:13)
Who has left the labor force (4:32)
The pandemic changed how we work (7:14)
How inflation will affect this expansionary period (10:12)
What layoffs signal about the economy (12:48)
How to retain workers in a tight labor market (18:18)
Links:


Northern Trust - Wealth Managementhttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/what-we-do/wealth-management


Northern Trust Twitterhttps://twitter.com/NorthernTrust


Katie Nixon Biohttps://www.northerntrust.com/united-states/insights-research/wealth-management/experts/nixon-katie


Katie Nixon LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-nixon-61783816


Challenger, Gray, & Christmas Websitehttps://www.challengergray.com/


John Challenger LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/john-challenger

Feedback:
If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer (contactnorthern@ntrs.com).

Katie Nixon, chief investment officer at Northern Trust Wealth Management, breaks down 2023’s first University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey. The survey — which tracks how respondents feel about the economy — offers a valuable window into consumer behavior, making it key for policymakers and investors.
While January’s survey reflected plenty of optimism, with inflation expectations receding for the fourth month in a row, it wasn’t all good news. Two-thirds of consumers expected an economic downturn in the next year. How will that affect future inflation? And what does it mean for the trajectory of Federal Reserve policy?
Join Katie as she interprets the survey’s findings, from concern about a wage-price spiral to the Fed’s silver lining — and why it should matter to you.  
Highlights:

Consumer sentiment on personal finances & durable goods (0:40)
Inflation expectations & the wage-price spiral (1:02)
Consumers expect economic downturn (1:45)
Why investors and policymakers value sentiment data (2:00)
Why the January responses are a win for the Fed (3:21)
The silver lining to consumer pessimism (3:46)
Links:

University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey
Northern Trust - Wealth Management
Northern Trust Twitter
Katie Nixon Bio
Katie Nixon LinkedIn
Feedback:
If you have questions about the show or topics you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer.

This year has offered little shelter to investors trying to avoid downdrafts across all asset classes. Inflation has been stickier and more unpredictable than expected. The Federal Reserve and global central banks have been more hawkish as they struggle to manage inflation without creating economic harm. Global interest rates have been extremely volatile with consequences for stock valuations as equity prices and corporate earnings are cast into doubt. 
Everyone from investors to wage-earners has joined central bank policymakers in closely watching data releases to see which parts of the economy have begun responding to interest rates rising at the fastest clip in 40 years. Northern Trust hosted a webinar with clients on Sept. 28 where Katie Nixon, Chief Investment Officer for Wealth Management discussed clients’ most pressing questions with Carl Tannenbaum, Northern Trust’s Chief Economist, Chris Shipley, chief investment strategist for North America and Tim Johnson, head of portfolio solutions for global fixed income. This podcast is an excerpt from their conversation.
The group discusses:

How much economic pain will central banks tolerate in their efforts to control inflation? 
Are startling gyrations in deep and liquid markets such as currencies and global sovereign debt uncovering the potential for a financial crisis? 
How will we know when the stock market has reached a bottom?
Is the Federal Open Market Committee relying on the wrong indicators as it makes policy decisions? 

 
Carl Tannenbaum is the Chief Economist for Northern Trust. He briefs clients and colleagues on the economy and business conditions, prepares the bank’s official economic outlook and participates in forecast surveys. Before joining Northern Trust, Carl spent four years leading the Federal Reserve’s risk section. He was deeply involved in the central bank’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, helped to create and conduct its stress testing program, and advised senior Federal Reserve leaders on developments in banking and the financial markets.
Christopher Shipley is head of fundamental equities at Northern Trust Asset Management, where he oversees the firm’s fundamental equity research and portfolio management efforts. Chris is a voting member of the firm’s Tactical Asset Allocation Committee and Investment Policy Committee. He is also co-portfolio manager of the Northern Global Tactical Asset Allocation Fund.
Tim Johnson is the Head of Portfolio Solutions and member of the global fixed income team at Northern Trust Asset Management. In this capacity, Timothy heads three key groups within global fixed income: our passive/index business, portfolio construction, and quantitative research. In addition, Timothy is also a member of the Fixed Income Strategy Committee, a group that formulates the fixed income platform’s strategic macroeconomic and investment themes that in turn informs overall strategy, risk budgeting and portfolio construction across all fixed income portfolios.

The first quarter of 2022 saw negative returns across the U.S. bond market as persistently rising inflation surprised central bankers and bond investors alike. Dramatically rising interest rates have focused bondholders’ attention on fixed-income investments – even provoking some to abandon the asset class entirely.  
In this episode of Market Currents, Northern Trust’s Katie Nixon welcomes Peter Mladina, director of portfolio research for Wealth Management, to explore the purpose of fixed-income securities in volatile and uncertain conditions, which seem likely to shape the investing landscape for the foreseeable future. 
Mladina discusses:

The unique role of safer, risk-control assets in a portfolio and the foundational function they hold alongside return-seeking risk assets. 
How investors can structure a portfolio to secure high-priority goals by matching the maturity of risk-control assets with expected liquidity needs. 
Northern Trust’s Portfolio Reserve and how it is customized to secure a specified number of years of lifestyle spending.
Interest-rate risk and its headline role among the types of risk that fixed-income investors are exposed to, and a the way risk-control assets hedges them all through periods of volatility and unpredictability. 

Peter Mladina is responsible for applying research, tools and methods that support asset allocation, portfolio construction, investment selection and best practices in portfolio management to the wealth management investment process.
Peter is an Adjunct Professor of Economics at UCLA, where he teaches applied finance for the Master of Applied Economics program. His research on asset allocation and portfolio construction has been published in peer-reviewed journals and he is a co-author of the CFA Institute’s revised Level III asset allocation curriculum. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from UCLA and Master of Business Administration degree from Edinburgh Business School.