Wellington-Altus Newsroom

Mark Twain once delivered a sobering reminder of humanity's tendency to disregard transformative ideas while allowing misconceptions to persist. As we stand on the precipice of two seismic shifts—the AI revolution and an impending fiscal storm—his words resonate profoundly.

In the complex arena of global finance, as in geopolitics, strategic positioning can be just as crucial as raw power. This insight comes from Polish-American diplomat and political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski in his book The Grand Chessboard, which offers a compelling parallel to the world of investing. Brzezinski's analogy paints a vivid picture where nations are likened to chess pieces, with their geographic locations and potential weaknesses playing a pivotal role in the grand strategy of international relations.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, deeply mindful of Arthur Burns' missteps and inspired by Paul Volcker's tenacity, is fully cognisant of the historical significance of his role. I have consistently argued that Powell would benefit from studying William McChesney Martin's tenure as the first post-Second World War Federal Reserve Chair in the 1950s. Martin adeptly navigated through a period of fiscal dominance, a pattern that is emerging once again. As Sir Winston Churchill implied, focusing on the wrong historical period can lead to policy errors and financial turmoil.

We are at a pivotal moment in history, one that former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan might liken to a historical juncture, where the intertwined narratives obscure the uniqueness of our era. As we contend with a world that echoes the tumult of epics like War and Peace or Game of Thrones, we are in the midst of a "Fourth Turning"—a period of intense demographic, technological, and structural change that recurs approximately every 80 years.

It's All About Timing. Navigating macro investing poses the challenge of not only identifying key events but also timing their occurrence. The hardest part is indeed getting the timing right. With Japan and the United Kingdom in recession, and Germany likely to follow, the global economic landscape is increasingly fraught with challenges. The downturn in these major economies, coupled with China's dramatic slowdown and deflationary trends, points to a broader malaise across global markets.

As we enter a presidential election year in the U.S., financial markets are resonating with historical echoes. One can particularly recognize the rise of populism after the Civil War, which parallels today's socio political dynamics. This comparison challenges the conventional wisdom about investing in a world that is constantly evolving. Concomitantly, there are parallels to the post-Second World War era, notably the extreme levels of debt which rival only today. As the war ended and life got back to normal, a growth scare and deflation resulted. Hence my thesis that our transition period out of COVID-19 has all the earmarks of a transitional period of secular stagnation and deflation.