The Banking Crisis Leads to Mixed Market Signals at Quinnipiac University's GAME XII Forum

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Mar 31, 2023, 09:15 ET

NEW YORK, March 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Outlook for Markets and Investment Strategies" panel on the first day of Quinnipiac University's 12th Global Asset Management Education (GAME) Forum expressed considerable uncertainty following several weeks of turmoil in the banking industry.

The panel was hosted by Peter Spiegel, U.S. managing editor of The Financial Times. Celia Dallas, chief investment strategist at Cambridge Associates, said that it was encouraging how quickly policymakers and companies moved to address the banking crisis, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) protecting deposits at the Silicon Valley and Signature Banks, and UBS agreeing to buy Credit Suisse. She said that more regulation of regional banks is likely. "The big banks are pretty solid," she said.

David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, was critical of the Federal Reserve's raising of interest rates at a time when inflation was coming down. "The Fed has an extraordinarily blunt instrument," he said. "The action it's taken has affected the housing market and reduced investment, and was the worst way to slow down the economy."

After many years of very low interest rates, the current situation presents "a headwind for corporate profits," said Darren Wolf, senior investment manager and global head of investments at Aberdeen Standard Investments. "We should not expect the same level of equity returns as we've experienced over the last eight to 10 years."

The geopolitical risk posed by, among other things, the war in Ukraine and a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan, "has to be taken into account," said Jimmy Chang, chief investment officer at the Rockefeller Global Family Office. He also pointed to the location of the critical minerals mining necessary for electric cars and clean energy, such as lithium, copper and cobalt, in problematic regions "where we might not want to do business." He said that recession fears had actually lowered commodity prices, but the longer-term prospect is for them to go higher.

Chang added that the concentration of semiconductor production in Taiwan is destabilizing, and that the U.S. "needs to be self-sufficient" in that industry. The panelists also raised questions about the commercial real estate sector, with some cautious optimism about its resiliency.

The virtual G.A.M.E. conference drew more than 1,300 participants from 120 universities. There are 30 panels, over 100 speakers, and 77 companies represented.

SOURCE Quinnipiac University