11 Dec 2024
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Investment Outlook
Annual 2025 outlook: Wheels down, elevation up: Five themes for a new economic landing
Explore the investment outlook by section
- Section 1: Wheels down, elevation up
- Section 2: Asset class heat map
- Section 3: Five themes for 2025
- Section 4: The economy and markets: key points to know
- Section 5: Best ideas across asset classes
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Key takeaways
- The world is settling into a new normal where economic growth, inflation and interest rates are likely to be structurally higher.
- This higher elevation is going to require a new approach to portfolio construction; Nuveen’s Global Investment Committee offers five themes for 2025 to help guide investors’ thinking.
Section 1: Wheels down, elevation up: Five themes for a new economic landing
Saira Malik, Chief Investment Officer
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve begun our final descent.” “Flight attendants, prepare for arrival, cross-check and stand by for all-call.” Every airline passenger is familiar with these announcements. Likewise, investors are aware that the U.S. and global economies are in the process of touching down after encountering turbulence from decades-high inflation and historic rate hikes.
Whether this long-awaited economic dénouement is ultimately deemed a hard landing, a soft landing or even no landing remains to be seen. In the U.S., we expect it to be softish to the extent that growth remains resilient and inflation has broadly moderated. Yet the risk of a hard landing (recession) hasn’t disappeared completely.
We think the economy is experiencing a different kind of landing that defies easy categorization. It’s one in which inflation and monetary policy rates settle but stay structurally higher than they were pre-Covid. And while this landing may lack a label, it’s replete with opportunity for investors willing to adjust their portfolio itineraries. We offer these thematic travel tips as a starting point:
1. Relative spreads and credit selection, not risk-free rates, will drive returns in debt markets. Interest rates will likely be lowered more slowly than previously anticipated. In fixed income, this calls for less emphasis on duration positioning and more on generating alpha via relative spreads and credit selectivity.
2. Real estate reality: it’s already bottomed. Global interest rate increases and other headwinds are fading. Meanwhile, investor demand for commercial real estate is rebounding, and overall liquidity is improving. The office sector remains challenged, but we see compelling ideas in the industrial and alternative segments. We also like publicly listed REITs, where valuations, fundamentals and earnings appear favorable.
3. Energy demand charges ahead of capacity, creating opportunity for new infrastructure investments. Energy demand is growing exponentially, but supply and transmission aren’t keeping pace. This imbalance suggests investing in green energy technologies, nuclear power and natural gas production to help fill the supply/demand gap as renewables ramp up. Other attractive infrastructure plays: local electricity transmission facilities and data centers powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
4. Municipals are still the borrower of choice for investors in it for the duration. Our general preference for de-emphasizing duration has one notable exception: municipal bonds. The municipal yield curve is steeper than the Treasury curve, and with credit fundamentals looking solid, we think longer-duration positioning in municipals makes sense.
5. Small caps are suiting up for the big leagues. Lower corporate tax rates, less regulation and higher tariffs are among the policy changes expected under the second Trump administration. These shifts may result in new capital investment cycles, creating potential tailwinds for U.S. small cap stocks. And after a long period of underperforming the broader market, small caps are trading at a significant discount.
As investors, we’re all frequent fliers on this economic plane. Arriving safely on financial terra firma will depend on how attentive we are to both the risks and potential rewards of flying — not just on the cusp of 2025, but every time we strap in.
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All market and economic data from Bloomberg, FactSet and Morningstar.
The views and opinions expressed are for informational and educational purposes only as of the date of production/writing and may change without notice at any time based on numerous factors, such as market or other conditions, legal and regulatory developments, additional risks and uncertainties and may not come to pass. This material may contain “forward-looking” information that is not purely historical in nature.
Such information may include, among other things, projections, forecasts, estimates of market returns, and proposed or expected portfolio composition. Any changes to assumptions that may have been made in preparing this material could have a material impact on the information presented herein by way of example. Performance data shown represents past performance and does not predict or guarantee future results. Investing involves risk; principal loss is possible.
All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such. For term definitions and index descriptions, please access the glossary on nuveen.com. Please note, it is not possible to invest directly in an index.
Important information on risk
All investments carry a certain degree of risk and there is no assurance that an investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. Equity investing involves risk. Investments are also subject to political, currency and regulatory risks. These risks may be magnified in emerging markets. Diversification is a technique to help reduce risk. There is no guarantee that diversification will protect against a loss of income. Debt or fixed income securities are subject to market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, call risk, tax risk, political and economic risk, and income risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Investing in municipal bonds involves risks such as interest rate risk, credit risk and market risk, including the possible loss of principal. The value of the portfolio will fluctuate based on the value of the underlying securities. There are special risks associated with investments in high yield bonds, hedging activities and the potential use of leverage. Portfolios that include lower rated municipal bonds, commonly referred to as “high yield” or “junk” bonds, which are considered to be speculative, the credit and investment risk is heightened for the portfolio. Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A, and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC/CC/C and D are below-investment grade ratings. As an asset class, real assets are less developed, more illiquid, and less transparent compared to traditional asset classes. Investments will be subject to risks generally associated with the ownership of real estate-related assets and foreign investing, including changes in economic conditions, currency values, environmental risks, the cost of and ability to obtain insurance, and risks related to leasing of properties. Investors should be aware that alternative investments including private equity and private debt are speculative, subject to substantial risks including the risks associated with limited liquidity, the use of leverage, short sales and concentrated investments and may involve complex tax structures and investment strategies. Alternative investments may be illiquid, there may be no liquid secondary market or ready purchasers for such securities, they may not be required to provide periodic pricing or valuation information to investors, there may be delays in distributing tax information to investors, they are not subject to the same regulatory requirements as other types of pooled investment vehicles, and they may be subject to high fees and expenses, which will reduce profits. Alternative investments are not appropriate for all investors and should not constitute an entire investment program. Investors may lose all or substantially all of the capital invested. The historical returns achieved by alternative asset vehicles is not a prediction of future performance or a guarantee of future results, and there can be no assurance that comparable returns will be achieved by any strategy. Responsible investing incorporates Environmental Social Governance (ESG) factors that may affect exposure to issuers, sectors, industries, limiting the type and number of investment opportunities available, which could result in excluding investments that perform well.
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