The everyday investor may have never heard of collateralized loan obligations, otherwise known as CLO’s, but they are quickly becoming a major part of the structured financial market. CLO’s are debt instruments that have been around for over 30 years and have a proven track record of protecting  principal while offering attractive returns for investors....Read More

In the United States, buildings account for almost 40% of energy consumption and over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and can be a higher source of emissions in cities.1 State and local governments are implementing building performance standards to help achieve their energy and decarbonization goals for the building sector. Benchmarking is used to measure...Read More

The term “Return to The Office” has commanded time in the news cycle over the past two and a half years. As companies struggle through return strategies, executives are realizing there is no one-size-fits all solution to the future of the office. Despite the uncertainty, investors and tenants are similar in their attraction to quality....Read More

In recent weeks, there has been a divergence of opinion on one of the most important macroeconomic topics monitored throughout the finance industry. No, not the disappearance of Alaskan Snow Crabs, but the impossible task of forecasting the federal funds terminal rate. With futures markets currently pricing in an approximate peak rate of 5% in...Read More

The tides are beginning to turn for investors as the ratio of upgrades to downgrades begins to fall. In the first quarter of 2022 the ratio was 6.4x, showing the effects of COVID debt repayment and revenues returning to more normalized levels. However, following the second quarter of this year, the ratio has dropped to...Read More

After 17 consecutive months of double-digit annualized value growth on commercial property investments, the rising interest rate environment of 2022 has led growth rates to cool nearly as quickly as they accelerated in late 2020 and throughout 2021. According to Real Capital Analytics (RCA), the average value of commercial properties rose 0.4% in August 2022,...Read More

Rising home prices across the United States have been a main contributor to recent inflation. Blame for these inflated prices can be placed upon a period of record low interest rates and a savings stock-pile built by U.S. consumers coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, Inflation has run out-of-hand, and the Fed responded by...Read More

We have all become painfully aware that the bond market has experienced the most difficult first half many investors have seen in their careers.  No spread sector was immune from the sell-off as growth concerns increased and investors sold risk assets.  Some suggest the resulting spread widening has created a better risk/reward return profile while...Read More

Business sentiment weakened across the board in the most recent round of releases. The S&P Global Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was flat to down in the United States, Eurozone, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Australia. The June survey data reflects worsening conditions versus the prior month. Source: Macrobond. In the U.S., the composite index...Read More

The bond market in 2022 has been turbulent and the negative total returns have been some of the worst experienced by fixed income investors.  As a result, a substantial amount of pessimism has been created for the asset class so far this year.  However, a reason for optimism has also been created for fixed income...Read More