Zephyr Releases PSN Q2 2022 Top Guns List Highlighting Best-In-Class Separate Accounts, Managed Accounts and Managed ETF Strategies

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Aug 24, 2022, 15:27 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Zephyr, a subsidiary of Informa plc (LSE: INF) and a recognized leader in investment management technology for wealth managers and advisors, has published their highly anticipated PSN Top Guns List of the best performing separate accounts, managed accounts, and managed ETF strategies. The list serves as an important reference for investors and asset managers.

PSN launched in 1984, becoming the first independent SMA database that was offered to investors and advisors. Access to SMAs is open to many types of investors, but PSN remains the premier resource for identifying top performers and investment products.

"Up until recently, SMAs were reserved for institutional or high-net-worth investors (HNWI) with a minimum of $1 million required just to participate. Over the past several years the cost for entry has dropped significantly, opening more options for wealth managers and their clients," says Margaret Tobiasen, Senior Vice President of Data Distribution.

Market Strategist for Zephyr, Ryan Nauman, offered the following insights:

Driven by a macro backdrop that included rising interest rates, historically high inflation and fears of a looming recession, global equities fell a -16.05% (MSCI World index) during the quarter. Furthermore, the S&P 500 index officially entered a bear market while ending the quarter down a -16.10%. The bond market added to investor pain as the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate index fell a -4.69% during the quarter. This marked the second straight quarter that both U.S. equities and bonds declined.
U.S. equities fell sharply as investors focused on the new monetary policy regime that included initial interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve (Fed). Investors feared that the hawkish Fed will not be able to tame inflation without triggering a recession. No equity sector was immune to the risk off environment, however, the Consumer Staples (S&P 500 Consumer Staples index -4.62%) and Utilities (S&P 500 Utilities index -5.09%) sectors were relatively resilient.
As for style, value stocks (Russell 3000 Value index -12.41%) outperformed their growth counterparts (Russell 3000 Growth index -20.83%), while large caps (Russell 1000 index -16.67%) outperformed small caps (Russell 2000 index -17.20%). Below are some of the strategies that make up the PSN Top Guns U.S. Value Universe:

Federated Hermes, Inc: Fed Hermes Strategic Value Dividend (-2.0% for the quarter)
First Wilshire Securities Mgmt., Inc: U.S. Small Cap Value Equities (-3.3% for the quarter)
Dean Capital Management: DCM Small Value (-3.5% for the quarter)

It was also a tough environment for foreign markets as high inflation, hawkish global central banks, ongoing Ukrainian conflict and a potential recession weighed on investor sentiment. Economically sensitive sectors underperformed as concerns over a possible recession increased. Strategies with an overweight to Chinese stocks (MSCI China +3.50%) were rewarded, as Covid-19 lockdowns where relaxed which resulted in the region being the only one to produce positive returns for investors. The following strategies made the PSN Top Guns list for the International Equity Universe:

Oberweis Asset Mgmt, Inc: China Opportunities (+6.5% for the quarter)
Mondrian Investment Partners Limited: China Concentrated Equity (+5.2% for the quarter)
Morgan Stanley Investment Management: China A Equity (+4.7% for the quarter)

For the second straight quarter investors were unable to find shelter in fixed income markets as a hawkish Fed, 40-year high inflation and rising interest rates pressured bonds. The Fed picked up the pace in its fight against inflation by increasing the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points in May and 75 basis points in June, which increased concerns that the quickened pace of hikes will push the U.S. economy into a recession.
The increasing concerns over economic growth helped slow the pace of negative returns heading into quarter-end. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose from 2.35% to 2.97% while 2-year yields jumped from 2.33% to 2.93%. Riskier bond asset classes like corporate bonds (Bloomberg U.S. Corporate Investment Grade index -7.26%) and more specifically high yield corporate bonds (ICE BofA US High Yield Master II -9.97%) suffered most during the risk-off environment. Below are some of the strategies that make up the PSN Top Guns Short Maturity Universe:

Putnam Investments: Putnam Stable Value (0.6% for the quarter)
Invesco: Stable Value (0.4% for the quarter)
WisdomTree Asset Management: Floating Rate Treasury (0.3% for the quarter)

The complete list of PSN Top Guns, and an overview of the methodology, can be found on online. If you do not have a login, you may register for complimentary access. For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns Rankings, or to purchase PSN Top Guns Reports, contact Margaret Tobiasen at [email protected].

About PSN

For nearly four decades, PSN has been a top resource for investment professionals. Asset managers rely on Zephyr's PSN to effectively reach institutional and retail investors rely. Over 2,800 firms, 285 universes, and more than 21,000 products comprise the PSN SMA database showing asset breakdowns, compliance, key personnel, ownership diversity, ESG, business objectives and strategy, style, fees, GIC sectors, fixed income ranges and full holdings. Unique to PSN is its robust historical database of nearly 40 Years of Data Including Net and Gross-of-Fee Returns. For more details on the methodology behind the PSN Top Guns rankings or to purchase PSN Top Guns reports, contact Margaret Tobiasen at [email protected]. Visit PSN online to learn more.

About Zephyr

Zephyr's award-winning financial services solution enables wealth managers and advisors to fully manage client investment goals. The platform consistently scores high among users for its ease of use with valuable tools including presentation center, portfolio proposal generation, performance measurement, asset allocation modeling, research, analytics and ESG ratings and reviews. Clients' ability to customize communication tools to create professional proposals and presentations provides significant value for advisors to convey investor strategies and success. Visit financialintelligence.informa.com to learn more about Zephyr or to request a demo or 14-day free trial on the Zephyr platform.

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SOURCE Zephyr