Anastasia Amoroso, Chief Investment Strategist, iCapital

Oct 20, 2023

Anastasia Amoroso, Chief Investment Strategist at iCapital discusses the current economic environment, the performance of the 6040 portfolio, and the importance of diversification. She also reflects on the progress and challenges of women's empowerment in the finance industry.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Introducing Anastasia Amoroso, Chief Investment Strategist at iCapital

02:11 • 4min

The Current Economic Environment and the Comparison to the 2008 Financial Crisis

06:14 • 26min

Analyzing the 6040 Portfolio at i Capital

32:24 • 12min

Diversification and Portfolio Construction

44:37 • 8min

Women's Empowerment and Progress in Finance

53:01 • 5min

As Chief Investment Strategist at iCapital, a global alternatives platform, Anastasia Amoroso is responsible for helping the firm’s clients understand changes in the macro regime and how capital should be allocated in response. We start our discussion by considering the current state of affairs – of high interest rates, of correlated moves in stock and bond prices and resilient economic growth – and exploring where history is and is not relevant.

Here, Anastasia highlights the degree to which both consumers and corporations are far less sensitive to interest rate increases than they were in the pre-GFC era. Higher rates are a concern, but they need not derail the case for risk assets like stocks which have delivered good returns amidst higher rates in the past. For Anastasia, an instructive framework for evaluating opportunity is one that considers valuation, positioning and a catalyst. And in the context of this last factor, she notes favorable earnings revisions which are showing signs of recently bottoming and strong earnings growth, specifically in the tech sector. We spend the bulk of our time on the important topic of diversification and the faltering performance of the traditional 60/40 portfolio. She highlights exposure to global macro hedge funds, a strategy that delivered a 9% return in 2022 as both the stock and bond market lost nearly 20%.

We finish the conversation by having Anastasia reflect on the state of female careers in financial services. She states that the industry has become more inclusive and more representative of women in leadership roles. With this progress noted, she sees a gap in women serving in the middle, between junior and senior roles, potentially the result of the unique demands on females that often include family responsibilities. Ongoing attention to office/life balance and creating a degree of flexibility in work is likely one part of the remedy here.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Anastasia Amoroso.