A_teen/iStock via Getty Images Quarterly commentary Most asset categories produced positive returns in the final three months of 2025, reflecting the favorable backdrop for the world financial markets. The fund posted a gain but slightly underperformed its benchmark. Asset allocation contributed to performance, while underlying manager results detracted. Market review and outlook Global equities r...
A_teen/iStock via Getty Images Quarterly commentary Most asset categories produced positive returns in the final three months of 2025, reflecting the favorable backdrop for the world financial markets. The fund posted a gain but slightly underperformed its benchmark. Asset allocation contributed to performance, while underlying manager results detracted. Market review and outlook Global equities registered solid gains in the fourth quarter, helping the major, broad-based indexes record their third consecutive year of double-digit returns. Performance was uneven over the first half of the quarter due to concerns that AI-related stocks were in a bubble, but the market staged an impressive rebound and went on to achieve new all-time highs by year end. A continued decline in inflation enabled the U.S. Federal Reserve to enact two quarter-point interest rate cuts, boosting sentiment. In addition, corporate earnings were robust and world economic growth remained positive. Emerging- and developed-market international equities outperformed the United States, continuing a trend that was in place for the full year. Within the U.S. market, the value style outpaced growth as investors rotated toward opportunities outside of AI-related stocks. Global bonds logged only slightly positive total returns amid a growing consensus that most central banks were largely finished easing policy. Credit-oriented market segments continued to outperform, primarily as a result of their yield advantage. Contributors and detractors The majority of the benefit from allocation came from the fund's overweight in developed-market international equities and corresponding underweight in the United States. We have favored the non-U.S. markets for some time based on their attractive relative valuations, and this aspect of our positioning paid off in both the quarter and the year. The fund's real assets portfolio also contributed to relative performance, primarily as a result of a position in metals and m...
Ireland face Czech Republic in playoff semi-final ‘We are just riding the wave of confidence’ Seamus Coleman believes the Republic of Ireland have “a duty” to lift the country by completing the job of qualifying for a World Cup for the first time since 2002. The Republic visit the Czech Republic on Thursday in a World Cup playoff semi-final that few would have imagined possible after collecting on...
Ireland face Czech Republic in playoff semi-final ‘We are just riding the wave of confidence’ Seamus Coleman believes the Republic of Ireland have “a duty” to lift the country by completing the job of qualifying for a World Cup for the first time since 2002. The Republic visit the Czech Republic on Thursday in a World Cup playoff semi-final that few would have imagined possible after collecting one point from their opening three qualifiers. Having reignited their campaign with two Troy Parrott-inspired wins over Portugal and Hungary in November, however, Heimir Hallgrímsson’s side will take confidence and momentum into their bid to end a 24-year absence from the World Cup. Continue reading...
US President Donald Trump appointed Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a council that will weigh in on AI policy and other issues, the White House said on Wednesday. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su are also part of the initial batch of 13 members from the industry named to the President’s Council of Advisors...
US President Donald Trump appointed Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a council that will weigh in on AI policy and other issues, the White House said on Wednesday. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su are also part of the initial batch of 13 members from the industry named to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Trump has made securing US leadership in artificial...
Hi, it’s Ben Stupples in London, reporting on a mid-market buyout firm carving out a niche in the booming wellness space. Also today, Nelson Peltz gives hedge fund merger arbs a little sweetener. Today’s top stories Brookfield, La Caisse agree a C$9 billion deal for Boralex. Merck to buy Terns Pharmaceuticals in $6.7 billion deal . Amazon, Qatari billionaire back robotics startup Neura. Fosun reso...
Hi, it’s Ben Stupples in London, reporting on a mid-market buyout firm carving out a niche in the booming wellness space. Also today, Nelson Peltz gives hedge fund merger arbs a little sweetener. Today’s top stories Brookfield, La Caisse agree a C$9 billion deal for Boralex. Merck to buy Terns Pharmaceuticals in $6.7 billion deal . Amazon, Qatari billionaire back robotics startup Neura. Fosun resort chain Club Med weighs Hong Kong IPO . Advent earmarks up to $1 billion for defense tech bets. Healthy gains Gabrielle Rubenstein, the daughter of Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein, has been showing her father’s firm and others in the private equity industry how to keep busy in volatile times. With a focus on the $2 trillion wellness sector and fresh off the back of one of its biggest deals , her mid-market shop Manna Tree Partners is planning to raise $500 million for a new fund. And while many buyout houses are struggling to find targets in a challenging period for private equity dealmaking, Manna Tree sees no shortage of opportunities in its niche but booming market for health nutrition. “We’re still seeing a tremendous amount of deal flow,” Rubenstein told me. “This is just a warm up.” Manna Tree, which Rubenstein co-founded in 2018 with Ross Iverson, has invested in companies including Health-Ade, a maker of the popular fermented beverage kombucha; New Primal, which manufacturers high-protein snacks; and Plant People, a maker of zero-sugar gummy supplements. The firm’s second fund has already outpaced the so-called harvesting period for most PE and is generating profits to rival its $390 million fundraising total. It’s hiring too, this month adding Jennifer Roach as a managing director in San Francisco. But Rubenstein’s path in finance hasn’t always been straightforward. Read the full story here . —Ben Stupples Today on Bloomberg Deals TV... Join Dani Burger and Scarlet Fu today for the latest episode of the Bloomberg Deals TV show. Today’s guests include Stephan F...
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde addresses the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. Kai Pfaffenbach | Reuters The head of the European Central Bank said Wednesday that policymakers stand ready to hike interest rates even if an expected jump in euro zone inflation proves temporary. ECB President Christ...
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde addresses the media after the ECB's Governing Council meeting, at the ECB headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 11, 2025. Kai Pfaffenbach | Reuters The head of the European Central Bank said Wednesday that policymakers stand ready to hike interest rates even if an expected jump in euro zone inflation proves temporary. ECB President Christine Lagarde said a "not-too-persistent" rise in inflation could trigger a hike after the bank was forced to upgrade expectations for euro zone inflation, which is now forecast to rise above the 2% target. "If the shock gives rise to a large, though not-too-persistent, overshoot of our [inflation] target, some measured adjustment of policy could be warranted," Lagarde told an audience at "The ECB and Its Watchers" conference in Frankfurt, Germany. "To leave such an overshoot entirely unaddressed could pose a communication risk: the public may find it difficult to understand a reaction function that does not react," she added, without giving a timeline or criteria for when the central bank might deem an interest rate hike necessary. Before the Iran conflict erupted in late February, the euro zone's inflation rate had dipped below the central bank's 2% target. In February, however, the rate ticked up to 1.9% . The war, and Tehran's retaliatory and almost total block of the Strait of Hormuz, have sent global oil and gas prices soaring and upended inflation forecasts in Europe. watch now VIDEO 3:29 03:29 ECB chief on energy shock: will not be paralyzed by hesitation Squawk Box Europe The ECB said last week -- when it kept its key deposit rate at 2% — that it now expected headline inflation to average 2.6% in 2026, 2% in 2027 and 2.1% in 2028 in its baseline scenario . In its more "adverse" scenario, the central bank warned that inflation could peak at 4% this year while in the most "severe" base case (assuming a stronger and more persistent energy price shock and further signifi...
juvaida khatun/iStock via Getty Images Market Review Value stocks led U.S. markets higher in the fourth quarter, with large-cap value broadly outperforming growth counterparts. Artificial intelligence (AI) remained a dominant performance driver. Yet, significant multiple expansion across the AI trade helped to prompt emerging signs of market broadening, as investors diversified into a wider range ...
juvaida khatun/iStock via Getty Images Market Review Value stocks led U.S. markets higher in the fourth quarter, with large-cap value broadly outperforming growth counterparts. Artificial intelligence (AI) remained a dominant performance driver. Yet, significant multiple expansion across the AI trade helped to prompt emerging signs of market broadening, as investors diversified into a wider range of more attractively priced companies delivering above-expectations earnings growth. Cyclically sensitive stocks, however, largely continued to lag. Federal Reserve rate cuts and resilient U.S. economic growth provided a supportive backdrop, encouraging investors to look ahead to broadening fundamental strength across a wider set of end markets. Performance The Virtus Ceredex Large-Cap Value Equity Fund returned +2.84% (Class I)( STVTX ) for the quarter compared to the Russell 1000® Value Index's return of +3.81%. Industrials, financials, and energy stock selection were the largest sector contributors to performance. Consumer discretionary, materials, and consumer staples stock selection were the largest sector detractors from performance. Alphabet and Western Digital were among the strongest stock contributors. Leading technology conglomerate Alphabet ( GOOG ) outperformed following stronger-than-expected financial results driven by accelerated Google Cloud growth and impressive AI innovation and integration across its business lines. We initiated the position earlier in 2025 amid antitrust concerns that prompted a sharp selloff in the stock, when the intrinsic worth of its parts appeared fundamentally undervalued. We held steady with the position as it continued to rise during the quarter, seeing room for continued upside. Data storage solutions company Western Digital ( WDC ) continued to outperform on strong demand for its high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs). The surge is being driven by AI companies deploying reinforcement learning models, which require retaining mas...
Investing.com -- Memory stocks fell Wednesday despite broader technology sector strength, with shares dropping after Google unveiled TurboQuant, a new compression algorithm that could reduce memory requirements for AI systems.
Investing.com -- Memory stocks fell Wednesday despite broader technology sector strength, with shares dropping after Google unveiled TurboQuant, a new compression algorithm that could reduce memory requirements for AI systems.