Insights
Those who think it’s possible to predict the future of economies and markets with any sort of accuracy would have a hard time explaining 2020—a year dominated by a black swan event that descended u
While growth has outperformed value significantly since the global financial crisis, the two styles have traded leadership in recent decades and value has dominated over the long term.
Watch a replay of Matt McLennan on Bloomberg TV, where he shared his thoughts the potential shift in leadership within market and what he favors most within the value segment.
Though China fell into the first economic contraction in its modern history as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has rebounded markedly and looks poised to be one of the few countries to post G
Watch Matt McLennan on Consuelo Mack’s WealthTrack to hear his view on how this pandemic has exposed a number of vulnerabilities in the world and financial markets and how he’s managing through the
“Don’t fight the Fed.” This old adage has been proven right over many short time periods, second quarter 2020 the most recent among them.
Gold’s unique risk-return characteristics have given it the rare ability to maintain its real value in both inflationary and deflationary environments, while also serving as a potential hedge against extreme equity market drawdowns and thus a source of resilience for stock portfolios.
On June 10, 2020, we spoke with Max Belmont about recent market developments and gold’s strategic relevance in today’s market.
Broadly syndicated loans are a sizable component of the US credit market, but, surprisingly, they are not widely followed or well understood.
On April 7, 2020, we spoke with Idanna Appio about recent market developments and the potential short- and long-term macroeconomic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
Investors initially downplayed news of the novel coronavirus outbreak in China, and equity indexes continued to press higher for the first weeks of 2020 as they did for much of 2019, led by growth-
First Eagle was built on the notion that a bottom-up, fundamental approach to equity investment could help uncover attractive opportunities in markets worldwide, to the potential benefit of investo
Though equity indexes have bounced off their worst levels of 2020, Matt McLennan, head of First Eagle’s Global Value team, appeared on Bloomberg TV to caution that the full impact of the pandemic’s “gut punch” to the world economy may yet to be fully appreciated by markets.
The co-managers say times like these make the case to own gold strategically as a potential hedge and not as a bet for higher prices.
The coronavirus outbreak represents a significant shock to both supply and demand in China and is likely to have repercussions for both Chinese and global economic growth.
Watch Matt McLennan alongside Evercore ISI's Ed Hyman as they discuss what has changed in financial markets over the last year and what that means for the US and Global economies.
Private Debt Investor talks to First Eagle's Tim Conway about managing through credit cycles. Use the arrows below to navigate through the presentation.
The use of gold as a potential hedge against extreme market outcomes has long been a key tenet of First Eagle’s investment philosophy.
At First Eagle, we’ve long held that the United States does not have a monopoly on good companies. While we think most market participants would agree with this sentiment, asset allocation data suggest US investors in general continue to be significantly underexposed to international equities relative to their share of the global opportunity set.
“One of the things that's important that we do a little bit differently at First Eagle, is we don't define value just in purely statistical terms."
Though the current business cycle—the longest in US history—is showing signs of age, the potential timing of and impetus for its end remain uncertain.
Conventional wisdom dictates that everyone should save as much as they can, as early as they can, for as long as they can in order to live a dignified life in retirement.
The long-simmering trade dispute between the US and China has intensified in recent days.
Nurtured by ever-cheaper computing power and the datafication of modern life, the rate of advancement in technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and offshoots like machine learning has a
It’s by design that companies in Matthew McLennan’s portfolios aren’t exactly those that set investors’ hearts racing with excitement. “We’re happy to own businesses with what we consider a gradual positive drift to them,” he says. In this article, Matthew McLennan and Kimball Brooker describe how they assess “fade risk” in a number of industries, what makes them uneasy about the state of the world today, why their exposure to gold is higher than normal, and why they see mispriced value in Fanuc, Orkla, Schlumberger, Jardine Matheson and Weyerhaeuser.
The timing and conditions of Brexit remain unclear, but most estimates suggest that both the UK and EU economies will suffer as frictions are introduced into their economic connection.
Investors and consultants frequently ask for the Global Value team’s views on sustainable investing. While we do not offer strategies that focus in this area, we do pay close attention to issues of sustainability because they may be a key to a company’s resilience over the long term. Some investors see the energy sector as the antithesis of sustainability, but we see things differently. In this interview, Benj Bahr, energy-sector analyst on the Global Value team, explains why.
First Eagle sources over 90% of its deal volume from private-equity sponsors, and creating and growing its relationships with these firms are high priorities. In this PM’s Perspective, Pat McAuliffe, who heads direct origination, explains the value that First Eagle may add in its sponsor relationships.
Matt McLennan reflects on his first decade managing First Eagle's Global Value team, and the challenges and potential rewards of value investing. See what excites him about the next 10 years.
At First Eagle, we have received many questions about sustainable investing from investors and investment professionals. To help answer these questions, we asked Thomas Kertsos, co-portfolio manager of the Gold Fund, and Max Belmont, research analyst for the Gold Fund, to discuss their thinking in this area.
The private debt market has expanded over the past decade, as institutional and high-net-worth investors, disappointed by falling bond yields, have sought corners of the fixed income market where robust returns may still be available.
While we don’t have a crystal ball at First Eagle, we do have a sense of current valuations and of the underlying vulnerabilities in the system. If the broader markets themselves are priced for low returns, investors who choose passive vehicles face the prospect of singularly disappointing returns over the long term.
This morning’s election results once again drove home the futility of human efforts to predict the future.
The United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union has already led to signficant turbulence in global currency and securities markets. Beyond this immediate reaction, we believe that political and economic uncertainty could continue for several years as the UK negotiates its new relationship with the EU.
In the past few years, gold and gold-mining stocks have been among the weakest performers in our Global Value and International Value strategies. Given the dramatic decline in some of these holdings, clients have questioned their presence in our portfolios. We believe that gold and gold-mining stocks continue to have a fundamental place in our Global Value and International Value strategies. We’ve organized this paper around the three major reasons for this conviction.
First Eagle's High Yield PMs discuss their approach to investing in a volatile market environment.