Press

In a feature story in the launch edition of The Alpha Pages, owner and sibling publication to FINalternatives and Futures, Deirdre Brennan quotes MPI’s Bill McBride on transparency and liquidity challenges in liquid alternatives. McBride gives insight into the ways in which the asset management industry can evolve reporting and communication of alternative mutual funds and how investors can analyze liquid alts.

InvestmentNews asset management reporter Trevor Hunnicutt quotes MPI President Jeff Schwartz in a story on the risks and particularities of “go-anywhere” bond funds as high yield, low quality securities fall out of favor. Referencing MPI research on the nontraditional bond fund category, Schwartz discusses how tactical mandates present risk management challenges, how advisors struggle with proper asset allocation of unconstrained funds and the huge deviations from manager to manager that are more representative of hedge funds.

Barron’s Focus on Funds columnist Brendan Conway deems MPI’s research on the “eclectic bunch” of unconstrained bond funds amongst the day’s best. See the full research on MPI’s Research Corner – “Too Heterogenous Too Handle: The Case for Careful Analysis of Nontraditional Bond Funds“

Financial Times US Investment Correspondent Stephen Foley highlights MPI research in his “Smart Money” column regarding the need for greater investor diligence when using risk-adjusted rankings to make investment decisions. As the Financial Crisis fades from performance track records and risk measures, he urges investors not to let the period of turmoil drop from statistical memory and to review risk and ranking methodologies. See the full research from Jeff Schwartz and Megan Woods in MPI’s Research Center (“Crisis in the Rearview Mirror”).

Premier financial blog Abnormal Returns includes Megan Woods’ “Risk Parity – What’s in a Name” as one of its select daily reads. The piece, first appearing in FINalternatives, analyzes performance of risk parity mutual funds, finding a surprising disparity between offerings in terms of estimated asset exposure and implied leverage levels.

The 401kWire’s Neil Anderson references new research from MPI’s Megan Woods and Jeff Schwartz on the need to monitor the way mutual funds rank in traditional Defined Contribution scorecards as the impacts of the Financial Crisis fade from the 5 year window commonly used in fund screens and rating systems. The elimination of the Crisis downmarket has led to rapid changes in the way funds rank and overall volatility in fund rating systems. See the full research, “Crisis in the Rearview Mirror”.

Barron’s “Focus on Funds” counts Megan Woods’ “Risk Parity – What’s in a Name” amongst the “best reading in fund investing.” The piece, first appearing in FINalternatives, analyzes performance of risk parity mutual funds, finding a surprising disparity between offerings in terms of estimated asset exposure and implied leverage levels.

A contributed article in FINalternatives by MPI’s Megan Woods analyzes performance of risk parity mutual funds, finding a surprising disparity between offerings in terms of estimated asset exposure and implied leverage levels. This wide range of perceived risk and exposures defies easy comparison and classification, and warrants investors’ careful consideration when evaluating allocations to the fast growing group. See the blog with full footnotes and sources here.

In a series of articles on the rise of multi-alternatives published in the May issues of Risk Magazine and Hedge Funds Review (“Hedge Funds for the Masses”), Kris Devasabai utilizes exclusive MPI’s quantitative analysis of a multi-alternatives fund (“Brilliance Bundled in Quantity”) and commentary from Michael Markov on the need for due diligence in the expanding universe of liquid alternatives offerings, a class facing regulatory review and challenges in educating investors on risk and structure.

A recent article published by Barron’s features commentary from MPI’s Daniel Li in a story on the Barron’s 400 Index and ETF (BFOR) following its biannual rebalancing. Li’s performance analysis shows the “growth-at-a-reasonable-price” ETF’s investment style exhibiting a small, though increasing, value tendency.