Macroeconomic update for September 2023

Summer break is over, but the recession debate has given no pause. While consumers are still happily spending and the US labor market has proven surprisingly robust, fighting inflation does come at a price. Central banks’ policies aren’t precision tools—and the quick and aggressive interest-rate hikes take a while to work their way through the economy. We continue to work under the assumption that there will be a recession, with signs of initial jobless claims being on the rise and global economic activity poised to cool further.

On our end, we do have a precision tool at hand: our asset allocation matrix. And we’ve decided to reduce risk in a number of ways, including taking our cash position up a notch, trim our equity position to neutral from overweight (while finetuning within the asset class to become more defensive).