UBS On-Air: Market Moves

Elaine Zaharis-Nikas serves as Head of Fixed Income and Preferred Securities and a senior portfolio manager for the Cohen & Steers preferred securities portfolios. Elaine joins Frank Sileo, Senior Fixed Income Strategist Americas from the UBS Chief Investment Office, for a comprehensive discussion on the preferred securities market. They cover a performance update and outlook, risk considerations, positioning views, and more.

US policy in the Gulf war has been unpredictable, but publicly unpredictable. Yesterday’s retreat from“guiding”ships through the Strait of Hormuz was a public decision. The pressures of rising gasoline prices in the US economy are publicly visible. However, investors also need to know Iranian policy, which is privately unpredictable. The forces pressuring the Iranian government are difficult to determine.

Sudip Mukherjee, Senior Fixed Income Strategist Americas from the UBS Chief Investment Office, is joined by Pat Haskell, Head of the Municipal Bond Group within the Portfolio Management Group at BlackRock, for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of the municipal bond market. They cover a performance update and outlook, share views on muni credit, and discuss the growth in SMAs and ETFs in the muni market.

AI-related investment in the US is booming, the rest of private sector investment not so much. Still, it's a positive for the macro outlook. We discuss this, the factors driving recent market activity, along with positioning guidance from CIO. Featured is Jason Draho, Head of Asset Allocation Americas, UBS Chief Investment Office. Host: Bryan Contreras

Markets have had a muted reaction to reports of the US and Iran exchanging fire in the Gulf. Investors had tended to dismiss US President Trump’s weekend optimism and focused instead on comments from Iran, so an escalation was not unexpected. Prices are still not at levels that would bring supply and demand into balance (once reserves are exhausted), and various politicians globally talking of subsiding retail oil prices will make things worse.