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Despite increased volatility due to the Russia-Ukraine war and rising interest rates, Franklin Equity Group’s Jonathan Curtis sees compelling opportunities within high-quality technology companies in an increasingly digital world.Markets have been exceptionally volatile since mid-November, as investors have digested the impacts of rising inflation, pending US Federal Reserve actions, the potential end of the COVID-19 crisis, and the tragic situation in Ukraine. Rising interest rates have reduced what investors are willing to pay for growth and “cash-in-the-future” businesses, and may increase the risk of recession amid the inflationary backdrop of rapidly climbing fuel and food prices.Even though rising rates reduce what investors are willing to pay for higher-growth companies, they are al

The US Federal Reserve is turning increasingly hawkish—hiking rates fast enough to slow inflation while maintaining economic growth will be a monumental task. The Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions team opines on what to expect from the Fed and gauges whether it is already behind the curve.Since we published “The Fed: Walking a Tightrope in 2022” in late January, Russia invaded Ukraine and the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised interest rates for the first time since 2018. As the Fed begins another hiking cycle, we provide our updated thoughts. The Fed’s b

Are Central Banks Too Slow to Tackle Inflation?Are the reserve banks too slow in tackling inflation? Will inflation level off by itself? Will rising rates cause a recession? I sat down with Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Chief Investment Officer Sonal Desai and Western Asset Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst John Bellows to discuss the investment landscape considering today’s geopolitical and economic challenges.Here are some of their key points: Sonal remains convinced the Federal Reserve (Fed) is behind the curve in raising interest rates. She warned about three months ago the Fed’s move toward hawkishness is a direct result of the persistence of inflation. Looking at the trends over the past three, six and 12 months, she thinks inflation could end the year between 5% and 7%. John

Where Disruptors Will Make a Difference in 2022ClearBridge Investments believe the most promising areas for growth through innovation will include software and service providers as well as platform companies outside technology.PreviewAfter a multiyear run for the valuations of the market’s fastest-growing companies, the prospects of higher interest rates at the end of 2021 sent a shock wave across this cohort of the equity market. While highly profitable mega cap growth stocks continued to thrive late in the year, growth companies down the capitalization spectrum experienced challenging performance. These smaller, rapidly growing companies tend to be less profitable, and their valuations are supported by future years’ earnings. As language from the Fed pivoted from an accommodating to a ti

Disruptions Redefine Risk and Opportunity in 2022Global investment outlook: The ramifications of the pandemic will likely continue to reverberate in 2022, but what does that mean for investors? Our investment teams explore key themes in equity, fixed income and real estate.Stephen Dover, CFAChief Market Strategist, Franklin Templeton Investment InstituteINTRODUCTIONWhen news of COVID-19 first spread, few of us could have imagined how disruptive the pandemic would be, how it would impact nearly every aspect of our daily lives—and that we would still be dealing with it two years later.The ramifications of the pandemic will continue to influence capital markets in 2022. I gathered eight of our investment managers to discuss investment themes and risks they are focused on. Here are highlights

The tug of war between value and growth stocks will almost certainly persist, but there are long-term opportunities in growth stocks globally.John RemmertPortfolio Manager, Franklin Equity GroupAs we emerge from the pandemic and move past its effects on global supply chains, working environments and business practices, we believe markets will likely continue to exhibit the “one step forward, one step back” behavior that characterized the last two quarters of 2021. We expect equity markets to remain constrained in early 2022 by the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and the incremental waves caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant and the new Omicron strain. However, between higher vaccination rates and the advancement of promising new anti-viral drugs, the pandemic will

Franklin Equity Group’s Jonathan Curtis suggests that the digital transformation seen during the pandemic for a subset of companies and themes will broaden and extend as the world re-opens.Jonathan CurtisPortfolio Manager / Analyst, Franklin Equity GroupRecent interactions with investors and clients convince us that the market is attempting to gauge the durability of sector growth in this increasingly post-crisis world. Discussions with sector participants and technology buyers give us confidence that our thesis is on track. Specifically, we believe that COVID-19 accelerated the Digital Transformation (DT) opportunity, and that growth will be robust for the businesses we own for many years as businesses and their customers seek to build upon the new digital skills they acquired during the

Franklin Equity Group Portfolio Manager Serena Perin Vinton discusses how her team thinks about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and the opportunities in investment-driven innovations levered to a more sustainable environment.Contributor: Serina Perin Vinton, CFA, Portfolio ManagerIn our view, managers need to be thinking holistically about ESG in today’s environment. The effects of climate change are significant, and we see them in the news near daily, with ever-growing wildfires in Western North America, hurricanes that retain their intensity long after landfall, and the shrinking Arctic Circle, just to name a few. As governments around the world seek to pass legislation and regulatory change to limit greenhouse gas emissions, their actions have implications across in