Perspectives | Insights Blog

Forum 2025 Key Statistics [Infographic]

Commonfund recently hosted its 27th annual Commonfund Forum, March 9th-11th, in Orlando, Florida. The event brought together institutional investors to engage in a three-day conference to explore...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

The Treasury Basis Trade: Opportunity in Uncertainty

A basis trade captures profit opportunities by simultaneously holding positions in a cash asset and its related derivative, exploiting price convergence and funding differentials.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

The Housing Market Paradox

The U.S. housing market stands at a critical juncture as sectors adjust to the anticipated Trump administration. While various industries are pricing in different expectations, housing faces unique...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

U.S. Trade Deficit Reaches Record High Amid Global Trade Shifts

As of September 2024, the U.S. trade deficit stands at $84.4 billion, marking the highest level since the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. During that period in the conflict, the deficit...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: A Resource Guide

Commonfund, in conjunction with our Native American Heritage Month subcommittee, has created a resource guide to help all of us celebrate the contributions of Native Americans and Indigenous people...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

The Pivot Heard Around the World

A U.S. Federal Reserve (“Fed”) pivot is felt throughout global markets, affecting economies worldwide.
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: A Resource Guide

National Hispanic Heritage Month (Spanish: Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana) is an annual celebration commemorating the history, contributions, and culture of U.S. Latino and Hispanic communities.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

How Long Can the Yen Carry Trade Carry On?

Since Japan's economic crash in the 1990s, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has maintained extremely low interest rates to combat deflation. For nearly a decade, Japan's benchmark rate has been negative,...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Pride Month: A Resource Guide

Pride month is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and asexual people (LGBTQIA+) as a social group....
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month got its start as a congressional bill, inspired by Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month, with the mission of bringing attention to the...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

What's Driving Surprisingly Low Volatility in Energy Markets?

In the current geopolitical environment, we would have historically expected much more volatility in the energy complex. Oddly, that has not been the case over the last 6 months. In fact, crude oil...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

The Economic Equation: Solving for the Unknowns

2 + 2 = ? In the world of economics—a lot of variables may mess with the answer. Two sessions early in the agenda at Commonfund Forum 2024 brought into focus the range of scenarios in play for...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

Forum 2024 Key Statistics [Infographic]

Commonfund recently hosted its 26th annual Commonfund Forum, March 10th-12th, in Orlando, Florida. The event brought together institutional investors to engage in a three-day conference to explore...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

China Continues to Drag Emerging Markets into 2024

2023 marked the third year of drawdowns for the Chinese equity markets, reflecting a country still trying to emerge from the pandemic period. A combination of factors continued to hamper the once...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Black History Month: A Resource Guide

Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Also known as African American History Month, the...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Bad News is “Good” for Markets to Close 2023

As we inch closer to 2024, domestic markets have been largely driven by shifts in sentiment surrounding the macroeconomic environment, leading many to question the relationship between “bad news” and...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Yield Curve Dynamics in Focus to Close 2023

After a relatively tame summer, significant cross-asset volatility has returned with both the MOVE and VIX indices increasing by 37 and 48 percent respectively, after approaching the lows for 2023 in...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Lagarde Offers Little Comfort Amidst All Time High ECB Rates

Last Thursday marked the tenth hike of the European Central Bank (“ECB”) deposit rate.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Global Currency Returns Diverge

A year ago, the dollar was approaching multi-decade highs as global currencies coped with the most aggressive FOMC hiking cycle of the last forty years.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Markets Signal Higher for Longer Interest Rates

Market sentiment on bonds continues to trend lower, leaving the overall open interest in short-dated U.S. Treasury futures net short at an unprecedented level. There is the potential that these short...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Midyear Rally or Multiple Expansion?

The long-awaited decline in earnings growth appears to be upon us nearly halfway through 2023. Expectations for S&P 500 year-end earnings per share (EPS) growth range from flat to a tepid 1 percent.
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Unemployment Appears Poised to Increase

Other than the impending recession, one of 2023’s most anticipated economic changes has been a labor market slowdown, with both economists and investors expecting a deceleration in economic activity...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Bond Market Expectations Take a Wild Ride

In today’s environment, commentary can seemingly become stale in periods as short as hours, let alone days. Just last month, we wrote how despite tightening lending conditions from banks, other...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating Women's History Month

Women's History Month 2023 | Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories Women’s History Month is an annual declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

Forum 2023 Key Statistics [Infographic]

Commonfund recently hosted its 25th annual Commonfund Forum, February 13-15th, in Boca Raton, Florida. The event brought together institutional investors to engage in a three-day conference to...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Rate Hikes are Impacting Bank Lending Behavior

As investors grapple with adjusting to 450 basis points of rate hikes (and likely more in sight), the debate on just how quickly monetary policy will transmit through the real economy has returned to...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Markets Rally to Close 2022, but Sentiment Remains Dismal

Strong Fourth Quarter for Global Markets Following three quarters of bleak performance, global markets staged a rally to close what was a tumultuous 2022.
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Supply Chains Take a Wild Ride

In 2021, the word was transitory. This described the expectations of Fed officials and many other prognosticators that elevated inflation would quickly return to the pre-COVID level of at or around 2...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Diversity and Inclusion: Ways to Make a Change

Throughout American history, discrimination has not only been ever present, but era-defining. In each of those eras, however, there have been pivotal moments where activists organized, made...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | The Shape of Inflation

The Consumer Price Index continues to surprise central bankers, commentators, and market participants alike. The latest headline reading of 8.2 percent, which reflects year-over-year price increases...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

The “Divorcification” of Stocks and Bonds

It has been a difficult start for traditional portfolios of stocks and bonds in 2022 as the usual diversification benefits of these asset classes have failed to materialize. As high inflation remains...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

In Remembrance: Laurance (Laurie) R. Hoagland, Jr.

The Commonfund community was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Laurie Hoagland. Laurie served as a member of the Commonfund Board from 2000-2012 and was Board Chair from 2010-2012.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Are Stagflation Fears Justified?

Stagflation fears are growing among investors as inflation recently accelerated at the same time 2022 GDP growth projections declined due to weaker consumer sentiment and increased risk aversion. A...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Hitting the Hot Buttons: Investing for the Next 2 to 4 Years

Commonfund Forum 2022 featured an expert panel representing diverse perspectives to probe beyond the headline-grabbing news that has been driving financial markets in recent months. The accompanying...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Is this Time Different? Risk Assets and Real Rate Moves

February ended in the same fashion as January, with elevated volatility across a wide spectrum of asset classes. Equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities, and cryptocurrencies all swung...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Tech Stocks Lead the Market Decline in Early 2022

2022 began with one of the worst market performance periods since 2009. While the tech-heavy NASDAQ index looks to finish January with a loss of around 10 percent, value equities will likely record...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Celebrating and Honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

On January 17, 2022, the nation will celebrate the legacy and leadership of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King—a graduate of Morehouse College—was a Baptist minister, a peace seeking civil...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Consumer Savings and Disposable Income Under Pressure

As 2021 comes to an end, we enter 2022 with a good dose of uncertainty in the markets as the Fed begins to reduce and ultimately removes its accommodative policy which has been in place since the...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

In Remembrance: Verne O. Sedlacek

A Gentle Giant The Commonfund community was shocked and saddened this week by the news of the sudden passing of our former President and CEO, Verne Sedlacek at the age of 67.
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Sky High Valuations Could Spell Weaker Forward Returns

When we look for potential roadblocks that could spoil the breakneck pace of capital markets, the first risk that comes to mind is record-high valuations. While inflation risks have become more...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Fed Remains Patient on Rate Hikes Despite Market Expectations For A More Aggressive Move

In its latest meeting on November 3rd, the Fed announced its decision to begin scaling back its historic bond purchasing program, marking the beginning of the end of the program that was aimed at...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month |  Are We on the Verge of a Global Energy Crisis?

It is hard to imagine that in the short span of less than 18 months, energy markets went from a state of overabundance to one of severe shortages and skyrocketing prices. In April 2020, Brent oil...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month |  The Confusing State of the Labor Market

The U.S. labor market continues to recover from one of the worst declines in employment since the 1930s. In the early days of the pandemic last April, demand for labor plummeted and the unemployment...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month |  Home Prices Are Up 32 Percent In Five Years – And Still Climbing

Housing demand appears to be slowing down in the first half of 2021, yet home prices have continued to climb at an accelerated pace. This month’s chart highlights the supply and demand factors...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

Commonfund Celebrates 50 Years of Service

On July 1st, 1971, The Common Fund for Nonprofit Organizations commenced operations with a $2.8 million grant from the Ford Foundation under the leadership of President George Keane and the Board of...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Supply Chain Woes as the Pandemic Recedes in the U.S.

Supply chain woes continue to wreak havoc for retailers who are grappling with a strong rebound in consumer spending. Average six-month spending on durable goods, spurred by over $5 trillion in...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Emerging Markets Trail the Pack Despite Rising Demand and Commodities Prices

As growth continues to rebound around the world and investors return to their pre-pandemic way of life, global market performance is beginning to reflect the divergent speed of normalization within...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

In Memoriam: George F. Keane

George F. Keane, 91, of 7408 Eaton Court, Sarasota, FL, founder of The Common Fund, and noted philanthropic investment strategist, passed away Thursday, May 20, 2021, peacefully in the Spring Meadows...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | U.S. Budget Deficit Hits Record Highs

In his first 100 days as President of the United States, Joe Biden has introduced three domestic funding proposals, totaling close to $6.0 Trillion, reflecting a desire to enhance the role of the...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Commonfund Trustee, Dr. David A. Thomas, Wins 62nd Annual HBR McKinsey Award

Commonfund's Trustee, Dr. David A. Thomas, wins the 62nd Annual HBR McKinsey Award, for co-authoring the article titled "Getting Serious About Diversity: Enough Already with the Business Case." The...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | The Surprising Relationship Between Money Supply and Inflation

The potential for rising inflation is becoming a top concern for many investors and consumers. Many believe that inflation is already here as evidenced by price increases in commodities, homes,...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

How Your Organization Can Nurture Innovation While Balancing Risk

The theme for Commonfund Forum 2021 was “Transformation.” The objective of the agenda was to deliver timely, useful content on core subjects related to nonprofit endowment and financial management...
Diversity | Insights Blog

From Generosity to Justice | Observations from the President of Ford Foundation

The theme for Commonfund Forum 2021 was “Transformation.” The objective of the agenda was to deliver timely, useful content on core subjects related to nonprofit endowment and financial management...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | The Stock Market Rally May Finally Be Broadening Beyond Tech Names

The trend of improving performance of sectors most sensitive to the strengthening economy remained on track in February 2021. For the most part of 2020, the traditional S&P 500 market-cap-weighted...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Are Bonds Still a Good Hedge for Equity Market Declines?

In the middle of January, the Biden administration announced the details on a new $1.9 trillion stimulus package, including enhanced unemployment benefits, an increase in the minimum wage, and...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Beware of High Yield Bonds

Income-hungry investors continued to push yields on speculative grade bonds to new lows despite the challenging business conditions this year. The yield on the Bloomberg Barclays Corporate High Yield...
Governance And Policy | Insights Blog

Investment Governance | Are You Asking These Three Questions?

In the midst of a global pandemic, many non-profit business models are being challenged which has put significant pressures on staff, governing boards and committees. These pressures on time and...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Are Value Stocks Finally Going to Make a Run?

The month of November saw a sharp rotation into value equities at the expense of technology and communication services companies, causing investors to wonder whether the long-run dominance of growth...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Recession Impacts on Employment and Wages

It may come as a surprise to many that average disposable personal incomes have increased by 6.6 percent from February prior to the pandemic through August. This is down from a high of 9.8 percent in...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Low Rates Make Record Government Debt Manageable – For Now

Few people would have predicted that U.S. equity markets would be higher today than at the start of 2020 if told that a virus would infect over 7.0 million people in the U.S., cause over 200,000...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Inflation Expectations Surge, Driving Real Interest Rates Down

Chairman Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole during the last week of August confirmed the Fed’s dovish policy stance, giving investors ample support in terms of low rates and a flexible inflation...
Diversity | Insights Blog

Investing in Racial Equity: A Primer for University & College Endowments

Commonfund and Commonfund Institute are very happy to contribute to the new report from Intentional Endowments Network (IEN), “Investing in Racial Equity: A Primer for University & College...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Markets are Running Ahead of Economic Reality

When investors open their second quarter investment reports, many will be shocked by the magnitude of stock market gains in the second quarter. Their surprise could be voiced by a rhetorical question...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Balancing Risk and Return

Risk surrounds us, and for investment fiduciaries it is inescapable if meaningful real returns are to be sought. While risk and return constitute the axes upon which investment portfolios are built,...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Measuring Social Distancing with Mobility Trends

We continue to monitor the level of social distancing as an indicator for business activity and improvement in consumer sentiment. Personal spending experienced the largest month-over-month drop on...
Diversity | Insights Blog

In Remembrance

The senseless killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and most recently, George Floyd have once again brought the scourge of racism to the forefront of our nation’s conscience. For many Americans,...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | The Dangers of Timing a Bear Market

It has been well documented that trying to avoid market downturns by selling out of stocks and moving to cash can be damaging to long-term portfolio values. And while there are strong behavioral...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | A Price War Erupts in the Oil Market

Oil prices declined over 21 percent on March 9, 2020, the largest single-day decline since January 1991 during the Gulf War[1]. There was optimism prior to the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Long-Term Equity Investors: A Global Perspective

Over the past decade U.S. equities have consistently outperformed international markets, leading many investors to question the role of non-U.S. equities in their portfolio. While the current cycle...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Chart of the Month | Election Year Market Trends

As we enter the 12th year of economic expansion since the Great Financial Crisis, investors continue to wonder whether 2020 will be the year when equity markets finally experience a correction....
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Taking a Fresh Look at Spending Models

Investors have limited control over the returns their portfolios generate. They have more control over their spending. That doesn’t make it easy. Compared to some earlier periods, volatility in the...
Outsourced Cio | Insights Blog

5 Key Questions: Comparing Fees of OCIO Providers

The market for Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (“OCIO”) services has boomed over the last decade. Today, OCIO assets under management are by some estimates nearly $1.5 trillion, 2.5 times the...
Perspectives | Insights Blog

A sit-down with Richard Fisher

As a follow-on to the Commonfund Forum 2019 panel discussion, The Global Economy and the Return of Risk, Richard Fisher, former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, further...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

The Fallacy of Manager Diversification – How “Horse Races” Can Increase, Not Reduce Risk

On the surface, hiring two (or more) multi-asset managers to manage an entire portfolio may seem like a good idea. Intuitively, it would seem to reduce manager concentration risk, and provide...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

How to get Started in Responsible Investing

The biggest challenge in implementing any type of responsible investment program is in clearly defining and prioritizing those issues most relevant to an organization. Although it may seem a...
Responsible Investing | Insights Blog

Identifying an “E” Factor

Over the past year the Commonfund investment teams have undertaken research to identify and isolate a new factor associated with the environmental sustainability of a stock (or a portfolio of...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

A Cost-Effective Approach to Hedge Fund Allocations: Part 2

Let’s start with a quick recap of Part 1 of this story, which can be boiled down to three main points: Investors often spend too much for market beta, paying “2 and 20” for hedge funds that deliver...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

A Cost-Effective Approach to Hedge Fund Allocations: Part 1

At the risk of beating a dead horse, hedge funds are not an asset class. This is especially true in the way in which Commonfund selects and constructs its hedge fund portfolios: focusing...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Equity Portfolio Construction – Through a Risk Factor Lens

At Commonfund, we aim to build multi-manager, active risk equity portfolios with a clear objective of consistent outperformance versus passive policy benchmarks. Our approach is to take intentional...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

How Much Beta is in Your Equity Portfolio?

Leveling the Field in the “Tug of War” Between Active and Passive… Active Equity Manager Universal Objective: Outperform the Passive Alternative It’s undeniable that every active equity manager’s...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Long-Term Trends for Long-Term Investors

Nonprofit institutions have the distinct advantage of having the longest time horizon of any investors – often perpetuity. This affords an opportunity to consider investments based on secular trends...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

What do the Cable Television and Hedge Fund Industries Have in Common?

These industries may seem an odd pairing, but both are in the midst of a disruption-led, industry-wide rationalization process. The two industries share in common a historically evolved “bundling”...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Private Credit Opportunities – Direct Lending to U.S. Middle Market Companies

Much has been made of the challenges endowment, foundation and nonprofit investors face in achieving a CPI+ five percent return target. One way to improve the probability of attaining this goal is to...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

A False Sense of Diversification?

As we have undergone the process of re-underwriting all of Commonfund’s equity managers and funds over the last 6 months, we have tackled anew the age old question of how many funds does one...
Governance And Policy | Insights Blog

Bridging the Gap: Carbon and Fiduciary Responsibility

Most institutional investor discussions and actions regarding global warming have been at two ends of the spectrum: either divest from fossil fuels entirely or remain fully invested. A better...
Outsourced Cio | Insights Blog

Six Key Questions To Ask OCIO Providers

“Outsourced CIO” (or OCIO) is a term that might not be familiar to many. In the past it has been defined as a traditional consulting model in which the process of interviewing potential investment...
Risk Management | Insights Blog

Defining Risk For Your Organization

Merriam-Webster’s defines risk as the “possibility of loss or injury.” The financial profession — borrowing from Modern Portfolio Theory — uses the standard deviation of a portfolio’s returns to...
Governance And Policy | Insights Blog

What is ESG Investing?

Generally speaking, Environmental Social and Governance, or ESG for short, is used to describe a group of characteristics that can have a material impact on the long-term success of a company and,...