Pics (and a couple of themes) from the National Public Pension Fund Association (NPPFA) meeting
An enjoyable time
Just some quick notes on points made by speakers:
There is more faith and confidence in the policies of Emerging Markets (EMs) right now than in Developed Markets (DMs). What this tells me is that EMs remain more committed to globalization than do DMs suffering populist strains/movements.
The same holds true for geopolitical risk, if you can believe it! I mean, who’s causing troubles today? Russia, Israel, China … all DMs.
The good news: analysts still seeing a soft landing for the US economy — for now. Money is already factoring in rate cuts between now and the end of the year.
There is a lot of thought that the AI bubble is getting out of hand, as in, analysts are just not seeing the near-term value at a level matching the frenzy. Seems to be a strong expectation that that bubble will pop in near term.
Finally, and to my surprise: nobody thinks ESG (environmental, social, governance) is, itself, bad or declining. Instead, the sense is that ESG is being unduly vilified. Why? Companies that score higher on ESG (and there are firms that do such scoring) perform better in markets and in reality. Thus, the hunt is on for a new term that removes the logic from ongoing culture wars.
Now, for some pix from the keynote itself:
Then later that night at Yerkes Observatory (once owned by U Chicago and now a museum).
