The NAVigator

Matt Freund, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Calamos Investments, says that productivity, GDP growth and earnings are "what matters," and that the headline risks that are driving consumer sentiment are "distractions" from a market backdrop that is solid. He says inflation remains the big risk, but notes that the investor sentiment is creating opportunities, particularly in closed-end funds, and esp...

Dr. Mark Mobius, widely considered the father of emerging markets investor and a man who helped put the world into everyone's grasp during his long career running funds at Templeton, passed away in mid-April. John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , recounts Mobius' legacy and lasting lessons by digging into interviews conducted by his father, George Cole Scott, Founder of the Closed-End Fund...

David Gutierrez, Vice President at Liberty Street Advisors and part of the team running the  Private Shares Fund , says that private markets are similar enough to public markets that artificial intelligence is now one of the big sweet spots in both. However, he says the best opportunities involve infrastructure more than AI itself.  Gutierrez notes that t he Private Shares Fund — an actively manag...

Rob Shaker, Portfolio Manager at Shaker Financial Services, says that while the headlines may have investors on edge, the fear-based selling that gripped the market around the start of war in Iran created a "generic widening" of discounts for closed-end funds. Shaker, who is a "discount-capture investor," says the current widening and recovery was caused mostly by "the irrational effects of excess...

With the market kicking business-development companies in the teeth, John Cole Scott , President of CEF Advisors , digs into his firm's data looking at "artificial-intelligence risk scoring" to find BDCs that have been hurt by headlines without holding tainted portfolios. BDCs relied heavily on software companies, due to the tech sector's blend of strong fundamentals, innovation and ability to res...

Matt Weyandt, a client Portfolio Manager on the listed real assets team at Nuveen , discusses how buying "location-specific hard assets" in essential industries that deliver to a "Halo theme" — heavy asset, low obsolescence — creates a buffer against a market that is being driven by headlines and geopolitical risks. Weyandt says that real estate, infrastructure, utilities, midstream energy compani...

Kim Flynn, president at XA Investments , a firm that specializes in alternative investments, says recent private-credit bad news events have widened discounts and raised concerns over business-development companies and interval funds, but have likely created a buy-the-dip moment in the industry. She discusses how fund sponsors and advisers must do a better job educating investors on how these prod...

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , says that closed-end funds are being buffeted in two directions due to current headlines, with war in Iran impacting net asset values and anchored interest rates impacting levered closed-end funds and discounts shifting to reflect both situations. Scott, who also serves as the Chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , says sectors that have b...

Robert Gilhooly, Senior Emerging Markets Economist at Aberdeen Investments , says that the continuing war in Iran has put pressure on oil prices, but he expects them to stabilize short-term while the market determines what happens next. If the outlook becomes one where the Straits of Hormuz are closed off to shipments for a longer stretch of time, he says "If things get really bad, you could be ta...

Ryan MacDonald, Portfolio Manager for the Bluerock Private Real Estate Fund , says that in a world teeming with market worries and broad geopolitical concerns, private real estate is "uniquely boring, in a good way." He says the market has taken its pain over the last three years through interest rate changes and the market cycle, but now values have receded creating a solid entry point. MacDonald...

The stock market has been beating up business-development companies, with the sell-off largely being blamed on the artificial intelligence boom and the high number of loans that BDCs make to software firms. Behind the theory that software companies will struggle to pay debts as artificial intelligence renders their products less useful and attractive, there are real loans, and John Cole Scott, Pre...

Robinhood Markets is launching its first closed-end fund, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, with the first IPO the closed-end fund space has seen in about four years and John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , sizes up the prospects for the new issue, which intends to be a concentrated portfolio of private companies. Scott, the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , discusses the role...

Chris Oberbeck , chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp. , says that  increases in default rates are more of a return to normal than a sign of trouble for business-development companies or the economy. While stories like the First Brands bankruptcy and fraud case have market watchers looking for more trouble, the rest of the headlines in the industry are much more routine...

Kyle Brown, Chief Executive Officer at Trinity Capital , gives his outlook for the private credit and lending space, and notes that there could be some challenges for business development companies and private lenders late in the current economic cycle because returns from private credit generally have been declining. That has meant single-digit leveraged returns, Brown says, so "Investors are not...

Nick Robinson, Deputy Head of Global Emerging Market Equities at Aberdeen Investments , says that the artificial intelligence wave that has pushed domestic stock markets to record highs is readily apparent around the world — including in countries that are not necessarily synonymous with technology — and that the capital expenditure wave should continue to power foreign markets if companies can mo...

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , reviews the key takeaways from his firm's fourth-quarter review of action in the closed-end fund industry, focusing on fund consolidation trends that have occurred in the middle of booming asset growth for the industry, as well as discount levels and whether narrowing discounts set up 2026 for more muted results. Scott, the chairman of the Active Invest...

Stephen Davis, closed-end fund product specialist at Nuveen , says that while 2025 was a strong year for closed-end fund performance, price returns exceeded net asset value (NAV) gains, reflecting a narrowing of discounts, continuing a trend from 2024. Those narrower discounts will make it harder for that broad trend to continue in 2026, but he noted that municipal bonds and senior loans are two a...

Kimberly Flynn, President at XA Investments , discussed the just-launched XAI Interval Fund Credit Index, which tracks the performance of non-listed closed-end interval funds and tender offer funds in the alternative-credit space, and how having the benchmark should help investors as they look at adding private credit and other alternatives to their portfolios. Flynn says the new index — which is...

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , reviews the forecasts he made a year ago for 2025, grading his wins and losses on everything from inflation levels and Treasury yields to discount levels and the outcome in various sectors of the closed-end fund industry. Scott, the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , also reviews the five funds he identified as buys for 2025 and how th...

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , climbs his mountain of data to get a great view on the year ahead, and he's forecasting no recession, lower inflation and modest GDP growth for 2026, with less volatility coming from the rate picture but more market tension due to the global macro picture. Scott, who also serves as chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance , also discusses what...

Richard Stone, Chief Executive Officer for The Association of Investment Companies (the British equivalent to the Active Investment Company Alliance ), discusses differences in the activist investor cultures in the United States and Great Britain, noting that the British model is more about engagement with the board and a collaborative effort to improve the business, while the U.S. model has shift...

Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates , says that "every time a new Fed chair comes in, they do something dumb," and with Jerome Powell on his way out as the chairman of the Federal Reserve, he expects some chaos that will create opportunities, potentially as soon as the next chairman of the central bank is announced. "The interpretation — and mis-interpretation — of wh...

Long-time activist investor Phil Goldstein of Bulldog Investors sat down with NAVigator host Chuck Jaffe at the Active Investment Company Alliance Fall Roundtable in New York City on Nov. 19 to discuss the current state of shareholder activism and why there seems to be so much less of it than there was just a few years back. While there have been moves and regulations that have made it harder for...

John Cole Scott, President of CEF Advisors , looks at tax-loss selling season and whether it has started yet, noting that a few asset classes have largely been able to avoid situations where there will be widespread harvesting this year, while others (most notably business-development companies) may be poised for a lot of tax-driven reshuffling before year's end. Scott, who is the chairman of the...

The Active Investment Company Alliance held its annual Fall Roundtable in New York City on Nov. 19, and NAVigator host Chuck interviewed Ryan Paylor, Portfolio Manager at Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, which recently converted a closed-end fund from a focus on companies located in the Caribbean Basin — ticker Symbol CUBA — to one focused on collateralized loan obligations. Paylor explains the thinki...