The rebound in equities thus far in 2019 have allowed investors to pick themselves up and dust themselves off after a market spill to end 2018. With U.S. equities seeking their retribution in the first quarter of 2019 after a tumultuous fourth-quarter end to 2018, it’s easy to have a home team bias for investors domestically.
However, as the U.S. capital markets make their way out of the late cycle, it can be opportunities overseas that can be more attractive alternatives. As such, investors need to build their portfolios with a global perspective in mind.
As markets have cycled out of the growth and momentum-fueled investments of 2019, a move to more quality-oriented investments are in order. Identifying these quality-based investments, however, will require more due diligence.
The end of 2018 also spurred a move to bonds as investors sought after safe-haven alternatives amid the volatility. One corner of the bond market that especially saw an influx of capital was short duration bonds.
The default bond play to get broad-based exposure might be the iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEArca: AGG), which tracks the investment results of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. The AGG gives bond investors general exposure to the fixed income markets, but there are times when current market conditions warrant a deconstruction of the AGG to extract maximum investor benefit.
However, there are also opportunities in fixed income on a global scale. The video below shows how Franklin Templeton is positioned to take advantage of opportunities in the global fixed income markets:
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