The Week Ahead – New Year’s Resolution

Investments & Economy The Week Ahead Grow

The Week Ahead – New Year’s Resolution

Andrew Chan, CAIA, Co-Chief Investment Officer

| 1/8/18 11:04 AM

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Welcome to “The Week Ahead” where we take a moment to provide our thoughts on what we can expect in markets and the economy during the upcoming week.

A new year, a new you. The start of the year is always a great time to reflect on the past year and to plan for the new year, which of course inevitably means a New Year’s resolution. With week one of the new year finished, are you still on board with your new year’s resolution? After reading about NBA basketball star Kyrie Irving’s change to a vegan diet (and seeing him play the first few months of the new season), I’ve challenged myself to a New Year’s resolution of utilizing a vegan diet five days of the week. After visiting the local grocery store multiple times for fresh produce, I now realize how time intensive my New Year’s resolution is. Now a less time intensive New Year’s resolution that all investors should accomplish at the start of the year is to revisit one’s risk profile. With global equity markets producing strong returns in 2017 (and another hot start to kick off the first week of the year), now would be a great time to review one’s long-term risk tolerance and goals.

The December jobs report was a bit weaker than expected, with nonfarm payrolls increasing only by 148,000 versus expectations of 190,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% however the underemployment rate ticked up to 8.1%. Wage growth saw some positive movement, increasing 0.3% for the month of December, leaving the year over year unchanged at 2.5%. In the week ahead we’ll get another inflation reading via the Consumer Price Index which will be closely monitored as usual. With the latest employment data out, the market is currently pricing in a 68% chance of a March rate hike. Will we see a repeat of last year’s rate hike schedule of March, June, then December?

Data deck for January 6 –January 12:

Date	Indicator	Period
January 8	Consumer Credit	November
January 10	Import Prices	December
January 11	Initial Jobless Claims	December
January 11	Producer Prices	December
January 11	Federal Budget Balance	December
January 12	Consumer Price Index	December
January 12	Retail Sales	December
January 12	Business Inventories	November

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Andrew Chan, CAIA, Co-Chief Investment Officer

About the Author

Andrew Chan, CAIA, Co-Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Chan co-leads the strategic investment committee and is responsible for overseeing First Foundation Advisor’s investment solutions platform which includes conducting investment manager research for both traditional and alternative investments as well as asset allocation guidance for portfolio construction. As a member of the investment committee, he provides market commentary and investment insights to clients. Additionally, Mr. Chan serves as a senior executive on the business strategy committee providing guidance on firm wide initiatives. With over 15 years of wealth management experience, Mr. Chan has played key roles across various aspects of investment and wealth management. Prior to joining First Foundation Advisors, Mr. Chan was most recently a portfolio manager at U.S. Trust where, in addition to his daily responsibilities, he served on numerous national committees including the investment manager committee, the portfolio model committee, and the strategic technology committee. He also served on the in-house strategic consultant committee reporting directly to the President of U.S. Trust. Mr. Chan is a graduate of the Wharton School Executive Program on Investment Management and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Riverside. He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA). Mr. Chan has previously served as an exam working group member and as an exam grader for CAIA. A member of the CAIA SoCal Executive Board since 2015, Mr. Chan has served as executive chapter head since 2017. Read more