Volatility can be a maddening beast. Sure, you can hope all well be relatively calm on the western front this month, and The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan won’t break bread until next month, pointed out marctomarket.com.

Meantime, the volatility of the S&P, the VIX, hovers at three month lows while the equivalent in the Treasury market’s off drastically from an early July peak.

A cocktail of burgeoning prices and moderating economies are giving investors a run for their money, the site continued.

Some economists insist the U.S. is sitting in a recession, hearty U.S. growth in jobs and with an unemployment rate at 3.6%, cyclical lows, aside. The market, in all its adamance, figures that prior to year’s end, the target of the Fed funds – currently 2.50% -- will bounce an additional 100 bp.

Inflation and the Fed’s policy are hanging is as some of the primary drivers of market and investor sentiment Advisors and investors upon which should train their focus in the year’s second half, Wisdom Tree believes, according to finance.yahoo.com, in an article was published originally on ETFTrends.com.

While model portfolios, of course, help pare down some of the labor inherent to the analysis of all investment positions, some advisors, nevertheless, outsource some – or all – of the investment management responsibilities by tapping third part model portfolios, according to flexshares.com.

Unlike funds, among other traditional investment vehicles, external solutions like third party portfolios provide financial advisors leeway over a gambit of aspects of managing a portfolio. They include  underlying holdings, asset allocation, rebalancing frequency, and trading.

“Advisors are typically seeking a holistic, cost-efficient, outcome-oriented solution from a trusted brand. Our models seek to provide a robust framework to navigate global markets and offer a straightforward means to help advisors build scale, enhance client service and satisfy regulatory expectations,” according to Melinda Mecca, director of Investment Solutions, Northern Trust Asset Management.

Also referred to by some RIA in the industry as the separately managed account, they’re used by investment advisors for accounts with higher AUM or asset under management, according to  synertree.io.

Now, trade and asset allocation decisions are beyond the wheelhouse of an RIA, but should have the chops to know the product without in extensive insight into each security within the model portfolio, the site continued.

As geopolitical factors lead to a reevaluation of a number of beliefs in the spectrum, currently -- like the first half of the year – the terrain continues to be rife with environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, according to corpgov.law.harvared.edu.

While some forecasts laid out by the group in its February post “ESG: 2021 Trends and Expectations for 2022,” were on the dime, other were stymied by unexpected circumstances.  They included, for instance, the reverberations from the Ukraine invasion, a spike in regulatory scrutiny and some blowback from U.S. Supreme Court rulings. 

During the first six months of the year, the Russian intrusion of Ukraine took a hefty toll on ESG trends and performance, according to the site. The fire was lit under oil and gas prices, while the performance of ESY-focused funds lagged.

Then there’s the bigger picture, in which 47% of advisors concur that ESG investments in DC plans would play a role on environmental, social, and corporate governance on a macroeconomic level, according to loma.org. Occasional advisors? Well, they’re more likely to expect ESGs in DC plans to impact conditions more widely. 

While a far cry from the size and scope Dems were originally hoping for Biden’s multi-agenda bill will hit his desk after passing the house, but what does this mean for the market and the U.S. economy? The bill is $430 billion dollars and will change taxes, healthcare, and climate policy. The plan hopes to slash carbon emissions by 40% within the decade spending a hefty $369 billion. However, it plans to generate $737 billion through tax changes and will have a net impact of $300 billion in deficit reduction according to the CBO. For the market, the stock buyback provision will be critical, but congress says it will generate $74 billion on its own. Still, this has been a key avenue for corporate spending in the last decade and Wallstreet will claim it forces inefficient maneuvers by corporations. The inflation reduction act will only make a very small impact on inflation over the next decade according to experts.

Finsum: Equity buyback taxes are very dumb, distorting how companies effectively spend money with excess revenue will only hurt the economy and the companies.

The U.S. had two consecutive quarters of negative growth meeting the technical requirements of a recession, and for the first time in over 40 years that coincided with very high inflation. Tasked with generating high returns in a stagflation environment investors are turning to an odd place, emerging markets. While some EM has suffered as a result of a stronger dollar and Fed tightening, pockets are promising to bring big returns in higher growth environments abroad. Countries relying on exports will have a difficult time, but countries like India, Malaysia, and Indonesia all have fairly robust domestic consumer demand and are quick-growing economies. The last country is an oddball but China has continued to deliver stimulus throughout the pandemic and may put itself in a good position to capture investor attention.

Finsum: Equities abroad are ultra-low, finding the right countries with domestic consumer support could be very profitable.