Perspective on the Markets

What global forces in play today will shape world markets and impact your investments? Each quarter, we offer our take.

Featured Market Outlook

November and December capped off a surprisingly strong year for the US economy and markets. What lies ahead as the calendar turns to 2024? Our Chief Investment Officer, Alex Chaloff, shares his latest views in his quarterly letter.

 

After a great year for investors in 2023, what does 2024 hold in store? Can stocks continue their run? Should you be investing excess cash? And what about the election? All of this and more is in our Q4 Macro & Markets deck.

Despite a broader consensus, Bernstein’s Investment Strategy team finds echoes of last year as we enter 2024 outlook season.

Here Comes the Sun?

In 2023, investors focused on “getting to the other side”—whether for interest rates, recession fears, earnings, or inflation. Now, as we look to 2024, cautious optimism is taking hold. Our year-end outlook explores this shifting mindset.

field changing landscape

Enduring wealth management advice

While no two markets are ever the same, investors are always searching for timeless wisdom when it comes to wealth management advice. That’s why we help clients continually adapt to changes in the market outlook with an eye towards reaching their long-term goals.

Data, policy, and the influence of geopolitical events on global macroeconomics all play a role. But we also analyze how these trends impact specific countries and companies as well as decisions around security selection. Are pockets of the market growing more attractive due to indiscriminate selling or mispricings? We’ll help point the way. 

surfer under water

Market outlook... or look out?

Sometimes investors want to know, “What should I do with all this seemingly contradictory information?” Often, the least impulsive path helps you unlock the most potential.

It’s only human to get nervous when markets turn volatile. But history offers a clear lesson for the emotionally minded: timing the markets is impossible, returns usually come in unpredictable bursts, and volatility tends to reveal opportunities. In short, having a long-term perspective helps you withstand turmoil and embrace potential. As in life, persistence, perspective and calm often makes for the best wealth management advice.

Make confident choices

Part of our wealth management advice includes helping clients avoid making counterproductive, emotional decisions by leveraging our sophisticated modeling, which weighs outcomes and probabilities of loss under a variety of scenarios. In other words, our analysis allows clients to seize rewarding opportunities while visualizing their likelihood of achieving their goals.

Once advisors help clients uncover their top priorities and concerns, our modeling calculates the tradeoffs between various asset allocation or planning strategies—and determines whether the current path, or a course correction, is required.

The tool is designed with the long-term in mind—anything from 10 to 50 years into the future—and includes simulations for 10,000 different economic paths, covering a wide range of potential macroeconomic and asset price outcomes. Clients find the analysis comforting, especially during large market moves and in rapidly changing environments.

woman looking at phone

    *Bernstein does not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice.

Are you seizing the moment in today’s market?