CFA Society Chicago

Any volatility in the market these days?   We couldn't have gone through investment themes for 2025 without discussing volatility and the options markets   Very lucky to have Zed Francis CIO of Convexitas join our host Rich Excell, CFA on this last installment of the CFA Society Chicago Investment Exchange Forum - Investment Themes for 2025 series

In this episode, hosts Tony Zhang and Rich Excell are joined by fellow CFA Society Chicago member Blaine Reed to discuss the market reaction to the tariff news and how investors should try to think through the scenarios going forward

We continue to explore the themes that are driving markets in 2025. The impact of changing policies in the US and elsewhere is clearly causing investors to reconsider how they will forecast the economy and markets going forward. We are lucky to be joined by Brian Wesbury of First Trust, consistently one of the top forecasters on Wall Street, to discuss the important issues facing investors today

If anything has characterized 2025 it has been the influence of geopolitics on the markets. In this episode, Rich Excell, CFA, CMT is joined by Reva Goujon, a geopolitical strategist and the Director of Corporate Advisory at Rhodium Group. Reva has two decades of experience working with C-suites and government agencies on how to deconstruct risks, assess future scenarios, and make informed decisio...

In the CFASC Investment Exchange Forum podcast, we continue on with our unpacking of the investment themes for 2025. This week, we speak with Dave Sekera, the US market Strategist for Morningstar Research Services. Dave and Rich start with a discussion of economic and interest rate forecasts and lead into what impact these views have on the different sectors, styles and factors in the US equity ma...

Continuing on our with our 2025 investment themes, Rich Excell CFA, CMT digs into the fixed income market with two excellent guests: Elizabeth Henderson, CFA the Head of Fixed Income for AAM and Anthony Woodside, CFA, FRM, the Head of Investment Strategy & Head of Multisector Fixed Income at LGIM America

But we do cover a range of other interesting topics! Tony Zhang, PhD and CFA joins me to discuss falling US Treasury yields, money rotating overseas (particularly China and Europe), money rotating within the US market, the overvalued Dollar and crypto. We will get to NVDA next time!

The first of a multiple part series, we are exploring the investment themes of 2025. With so much concern on inflation, we thought the best place to start is in commodities. We were lucky to be joined by Bloomberg Intelligence Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone, a fellow CFA charterholder and friend of the program. We covered the gamut from soybeans to Solana, gold to gas. 

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT are back for the first Macro Matters of 2025.  The story of the early part of the year is 10 year Treasury yields but that means we are talking yield curves, FOMC expectations, large cap vs. small cap and growth vs. value. We even got into the $7 trillion of Treasury issuance and Chinese 10 year yields at all-time lows!  A  full episode because we haven...

Rich Excell, CFA, CMT is joined by Institutional Investor's #1 Strategist Michael Kantrowitz, CFA from Piper Sandler to discuss the US equity market backdrop. What does the factor performance of the market tell us? Are expensive valuations a problem? What about tight credit spreads? Can small caps finally outperform?  All of this and more

Rich Excell CFA, CMT is joined by Barry Knapp, Managing Partner of Ironsides Macro to discuss what is being priced into the bond market and the stock market, where they agree and where the discuss agree. Barry covered TGA, RRP, Active Treasury Issuance, Negative Swaps Spreads, Inverted Yield Curves and QT. Most importantly, he made all of those terms understandable for those that don't follow the...

Tony Zhang Phd, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT get together to recap the events of the week. We hardly discussed the CFASC Annual Dinner because there was so much else going on!

Fred Goodwin aka Mr. Risk, a senior macro strategist at State Street, is a guest of Rich Excell CFA, CMT.  They have a wide-ranging discussion from leptokurtotic distributions to Chinese stimulus policy to the Rule of 100. When it is all said and done, does it all come down to TINA (There Is No Alternative) again?  Have a listen to find out

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT are back to discuss a range of issues.  Is China stimulus enough? Will it lead to China finally outperforming the US?  What about the US? How is the housing market doing? What does this mean for the US economy? Have a listen to find out

Maybe you noticed, or maybe you didn't, but a month ago, the PJM auction results were announced and the cost for energy capacity in the largest region in the US saw prices up 800% yay!  This was enough of a shock that we reached out to the Electirc Power Supply Association (EPSA) to ask them to explain what is going on. Rich Excell CFA, CMT was joined by Todd Snitchler, the President and CEO of EP...

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT go live right after the FOMC news comes out to discuss what the Fed might be seeing, the reaction we are seeing in markets and what we might expect going forward

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT are back to discuss the data-filled week post Labor Day and what this might mean for markets going forward. What should we expect? How will the market react? What do investors need to focus on? Have a listen to find out

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA is back with Rich Excell CFA, CMT to recap the crazy August we have seen in the markets. What are the important takeaways? Are we all clear? What should investors think about going forward?

Rich Excell CFA, CMT is joined by renowned economic Lyric Hughes Hale of EconVue who is an expert on Asia economies and geopolitics. Lyric last joined Rich to talk about China after the last National Party Congress. Now she is on to discuss the seminal elections in India, what we need to know as investors, and what we might expect from the politicians.    Lyric mentions an article written by her t...

It's been a few week since Tony Zhang PhD, CFA and Rich Excell CFA, CMT have sat down to discuss the markets. Since then, we have not only seen some historic events in politics but we have moved into the middle of an important earnings season, where the bar is very high. Throw in weakening economic data, and it is tough for investors to navigate. Don't worry - we've got you covered. 

Rich Excell CFA, CMT is joined by Lotta Moberg PhD, CFA, a partner at ViviFi Ventures and Paul Chesek, the Chief Growth Officer at GreenCheck to discuss the recent trends in cannabis & how the rescheduling of cannabis may change the landscape for investors going forward. 

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA joins Rich Excell CFA, CMT to discuss the recent events in the market. Last week was a major week for news, for the Fed and for markets. What does the team think of what happened?

Tony Zhang Phd, CFA joins Rich Excell CFA, CMT for another episode of Macro Matters. In this episode they cover the abundant liquidity in the market, leading to rising investor sentiment that can be seen from crypto to tech stocks. With NVDA earnings this week, what will that mean for markets? Is it time for the emerging markets to catch up?

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA joins Rich Excell CFA, CMT to cover the latest macro that matters for the markets. It is still all about the Fed & inflation for the financial markets. What has changed in the last two weeks? Have a listen to find out

Tony Zhang PhD, CFA joins Rich Excell CFA, CMT to discuss the latest events in the market. We are in earnings season, a time when investors should be focused on the micro issues, the idiosyncratic news. Why is everyone focusing on the macro all of a sudden? Join Tony and Rich to find out why this macro matters