Posts by Mark J P Anson

Investment Strategy | Articles

Thinking Outside the Benchmark

Twenty years ago, Mark authored an article published in The Journal of Portfolio Management titled "Thinking Outside the Benchmark" to describe a new way of pension fund management. He concluded the...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Educational Alpha Podcast: A Conversation with Mark Anson

In this episode of the "Educational Alpha Podcast" host Bill Kelly sits down with Mark Anson, CEO and CIO of Commonfund to explore the evolution of the endowment model and its ongoing relevance in...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Fiscal Year-End and Mid-Year 2024 Market and Investment Review

Over the last 12 months, the global stock markets demonstrated remarkable resilience and growth despite several challenges, including persistently high interest rates, geopolitical instability, and...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Year-End Update and 2024 Investment Outlook

The long and winding road This was a year to catch our breath. After the S&P 500 Index fell 18.1 percent in 2022, and the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index fell 13.0 percent, we all needed a break....
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Fiscal Year-End and Mid-Year 2023 Market and Investment Review

The end of fiscal year 2023, and mid-point of the calendar year, marks the end of the pandemic years. At this point, many have returned to the workplace, at least part time, in-person meetings have...
Commonfund Forum | Videos

Commonfund Forum 2023 Welcome Address

Commonfund hosted its 25th annual Commonfund Forum in Boca Raton, Florida. Mark Anson, Commonfund's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, opened the conference with a welcome...
Diversity | Insights Blog

A Message from our CEO - Advancing DEI at Commonfund

Commonfund Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report - A Message from our CEO For the past two years, we have been living in a digital world of Zoom, MS Teams, WebEx and other video formats. It has...
Market Commentary | Articles

Fiscal Year-End and Mid-Year 2020 Market and Investment Review

As we enter the new fiscal year, and Commonfund’s 50th year of operations, we leave behind what will likely be remembered as one of the most challenging and memorable fiscal years for the...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

When Will this Crisis End? 3 Keys to Recovery

When will this crisis end? Following are three key issues fiduciaries should keep in mind concerning COVID-19 and this pandemic recession and recovery. The path and trajectory of COVID-19 This is...
Responsible Investing | Videos

Examining the Sustainability Conundrum

Sustainable investing, sometimes called ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investing, has been a hotly contested topic for years. And the debate continues with both supporters and naysayers...
Market Commentary | Insights Blog

Market Commentary: Impact of the Coronavirus on Markets and Portfolios

After a strong calendar year 2019, the S&P 500 reached its most recent all-time high on February 19, up nearly 5 percent since the year began. Now, a week later, the global equity markets have fallen...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Bonds: Unwanted and Unloved but not Unnecessary

Well, the party may finally be over. Like the college dean who shuts down the campus party, the Fed has finally taken away the interest rate punch bowl that investors have enjoyed for so long. It may...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Baring Their Teeth – FAANGs Take a Bite Out of the Equity Market

Narrow market leadership in the U.S. and Emerging Markets proves challenging for active managers Narrow markets are not uncommon to equity investors. They tend to manifest themselves during the best...
Investment Strategy | Articles

Hedge Fund Land: An Expensive Amusement Park?

In a series of articles, we have addressed two recent investment “fatigues” experienced by institutional investors: Active vs. Passive; and Global (ACWI) vs. US benchmarks. In this article, we tackle...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Flexing Your Global Portfolio Can Lead to ACWI Fatigue, but Don't Throw in the Towel Yet

Like the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles after a strenuous workout, the underperformance of Morgan Stanley Capital International All Country World index (MSCI ACWI) vs. the Standard & Poor’s...
Investment Strategy | Articles

CIO Roundtable: Is the Endowment Model a Crowded Trade?

Stuck in the past or ever-evolving? The endowment model gets a hard look eight years into the current market cycle. With core tenets of the endowment model seemingly under stress for the last several...
Investment Strategy | Articles

Unhedged Commentary: The $3 Trillion Question

Reprinted from Institutional Investor’s Alpha Spring 2016 issue The growth of the hedge fund industry over the past decade has been tremendous, with more and more institutional and retail investors...
Investment Strategy | Private Equity Insights

Asset Allocation with Private Equity

Reprinted from Volume 17, Number 1, 2016 of The Journal of Investment Consulting by Mark J.P. Anson Private assets such as private equity and venture capital have long been a thorn in the side of...
Investment Strategy | Insights Blog

Is Currency an Asset Class?

Currency risk can best be described as the surprise impact that currency exposure has on an investment portfolio. Although currency risk typically confounds investors, it is easy to measure – it is...