A High Income Solution for a Yield-Challenged Environment – WisdomTree – 5.10.21

Summary:

Now On Demand. In today’s financial markets, investors are faced with some challenges; one of the most noteworthy challenges is the level of global interest rates. Whether the investment focus is here in the U.S., or on a global scale, investors are still confronted with historically low rates. In addition, corporate bond spreads have returned to pre-pandemic readings, and do not offer as much in terms of relative value, not to mention equity markets being near all-time highs, as well. Please join Kevin Flanagan, WisdomTree Head of Fixed Income Strategy, and Chris Acito, CEO, CIO and founder of Gapstow Capital Partners as they discuss a potential solution to find income in this yield-challenged environment.

• How has the macroeconomic backdrop led us to this environment?
• What is Alternative Credit?
• Where does Alternative Credit fit in a portfolio?

Speakers:

Chris is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Gapstow Capital Partners, a registered investment advisor based in New York City that advises clients exclusively on opportunities in the alternative credit markets. Chris founded Gapstow in 2009. Chris began his professional life as an economist, having graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago. He served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors in both the Bush and Clinton administrations where his areas of expertise were financial markets and macroeconomic policy. He was also the Managing Director of the Center for Population Economics, a Chicago-based group dedicated to researching issues in health economics under the direction of Noble Prize winner Robert W. Fogel. Chris then enjoyed a ten-year career as a management consultant beginning in Booz-Allen & Hamilton’s Banking & Capital Markets practice in New York. In 1998 he co-founded Casey, Quirk & Acito (now known as Casey Quirk by Deloitte) a specialist firm focusing on the global investment management industry. In 2004, Chris become the global Chief Operating Officer for Investcorp’s Hedge Fund Group, which, at its peak, managed nearly $8.5 billion in client and proprietary capital in both multi- manager funds and single manager funds. Chris is an Emeritus Trustee for The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey. He served on the School’s Board of Trustees and Investment Committee for nearly twenty years, including six as Board Chair.

As part of WisdomTree’s Investment Strategy group, Kevin serves as Head of Fixed Income Strategy. In this role, he contributes to the asset allocation team, writes fixed income-related content and travels with the sales team, conducting client-facing meetings and providing expertise on WisdomTree’s existing and future bond ETFs. In addition, Kevin works closely with the fixed income team. Prior to joining WisdomTree, Kevin spent 30 years at Morgan Stanley, where he was most recently a Managing Director. He was responsible for tactical and strategic recommendations and created asset allocation models for fixed income securities. He was a contributor to the Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Global Investment Committee, primary author of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management’s monthly and weekly fixed income publications, and collaborated with the firm’s Research and Consulting Group Divisions to build ETF and fund manager asset allocation models. Kevin has an MBA from Pace University’s Lubin Graduate School of Business, and a B.S in Finance from Fairfield University.