In an article for InvestmentNews, Jeff Benjamin reported on Morningstar’s decision to allow competing model portfolios from other asset managers on its proprietary platform for wealth advisors. 

So far, model portfolios from BlackRock, T. Rowe Price and Clark Capital are being introduced to the platform which was launched a year ago. In a statement, Morningstar Wealth president Daniel Needham noted, “This is an important milestone in the strategic evolution of the U.S. Wealth platform.” 

It’s expected that model portfolios from other asset managers like Fidelity will also be added over the coming weeks. Morningstar sees the addition of more model portfolios as a way to help advisors scale their businesses given the decline in the number of advisors, while the demand for advice continues to increase. 

The company believes that advisors need to outsource portfolio management in order to better serve clients. Additionally, asset managers operating model portfolios have significantly more resources than advisors. 

Surveys show that advisors spend about 18% of their time on managing investments. However, investment performance is not the biggest factor when it comes to client retention. Therefore, integrating model portfolios into their practices can lead to more success for advisors. 

Finsum: Morningstar is introducing model portfolios from asset managers onto its platform. It sees model portfolios as important tools to help advisors grow their practices.

In an article for Oilprice.com, Alex Kimani discussed three reasons why Goldman Sachs is bullish on the energy sector. The bank sees Brent and WTI crude oil trending higher to $100 and $95 per barrel over the next 12 months, respectively. 

The bank sees faster growth in China as supportive of commodity demand overall. Regarding energy, it sees supply pressures from OPEC+ production cuts, embargoes on Russian crude shipments and global growth as key drivers.

Some other reasons cited for favoring energy are attractive valuations. Currently, it has a P/E ratio of 6.7 which is the cheapest among the 11 major sectors, and this is considerably cheaper than the S&P 500’s P/E of 22. 

Despite a slowing economy and lower energy prices, Q1 earnings have remained quite strong. Net margins improved from 11.8% to 10.4%. This is in contrast to most sectors which are experiencing margin compression. Further, earnings are forecast to remain stable over the next couple of years due to low capex, higher costs for new projects, and geopolitical risk. 

Overall, energy stocks offer investors attractive valuations and robust earnings growth potential. The longer-term picture remains attractive due to longer-term supply trends, while demand is expected to remain steady.

According to Russell Investments, the outlook for active fixed income looks quite attractive in 2023. They see opportunities to outperform benchmarks due to market and trading inefficiencies, index construction, and a volatile macro environment due to the lack of clarity around the Fed’s hiking schedule.

Compared to active equity funds, they see more opportunity for alpha in active fixed income for a variety of reasons. A major one is that fixed income indices are constructed with thousands of securities, often with different durations, coupons, and covenants. For astute managers, this can create opportunities to uncover value especially amid rating changes, new issues, and rebalancing by indexes. 

Another favorable factor is that many participants in the fixed income market are not focused on maximizing returns. Instead, there are forced buyers of fixed income due to capital requirements like insurance companies and banks. Further, central banks remain active in these markets as well, and they telegraph their intentions well in advance. 

Finally, there are simply more inefficiencies in fixed income as the vast bulk continue to be traded over-the-counter which leads to less price transparency and wider bid-ask spreads. 

Finsum: Russell Investments sees opportunity for investors in active fixed income funds due to more inefficiencies, less transparency, and more opportunities to uncover value..

Be a pal, huh, and give it a little elbow room. Fueled by institutions and financial advisors intent on seeking to tailor traditional indexes to meet the preferences of beneficiaries, direct indexing’s growing – and quickly – according to al-cio.com.

While direct indexing isn’t exactly new to the rodeo, its use has been spurred by current day computing power, according to a report by Jason Kephart, Morningstar’s director of multi-asset ratings, and his team.

Now, keep in mind, it’s not only your clients with the greatest wealth and complex investment portfolios who should be riding the direct indexing bandwagon, according to Randy Bullard, global head of wealth at Charles River Development, reported investmentnews.com.

“I think every financial advisor should be accessing direct indexing for their taxable client accounts,” Bullard said at the recent ETF Exchange conference in Miami.

“A direct indexing solution is uniquely designed to catch money in transition, and it’s suitable for all types of investors,” he said. “That’s the transition the industry is starting to go through. Once you conquer the operational complexities of direct indexing, it becomes a broad market solution.”

Last year, transitions among financial advisors lost a little ground, according to Investnews.com, reported linkedin.com.

But, tada, independent broker-dealers picked up almost 1,000 advisors in 2023.

The morale of the story? The volume of transitions is secondary; in the world of recruitment, what reigns supreme is lassoing top producers capable of expanding the business.

Up to date technology’s one way snag advisors.

One word to capture technology’s role in drawing fresh talent: “significant,” according to Jim Frawley, CEO and founder of Bellwether.

“Good technology is a game changer and committing to the tech of the future will be very attractive to those being recruited,” said Frawley. “This includes adopting certain aspects of AI and automation and at least being open to investigating other opportunities to free up time and elevate them. Advisors today are looking at tech to make their offering more attractive and substantial. Tech is also becoming their biggest competitor.”

And you might say recruiting pays off.

For example, leveraging its organic recruiting initiatives, during this year’s first quarter, Cetera Financial Group layered on nearly $3 billion in assets under administration, according to thinkadvisor.com.