Ballast is proud to note that its Quality Value Smallcap Strategy has attained a three-year track record as of June 30, 2020 with performance that outpaced both relevant indexes. Additional information and since-inception performance for each of the strategies may be found at www.ballastequity.com. Ballast Strategy Performance Investors apparently listened when, in late March, Federal Read more ➝
Ballast Strategy Performance After a positive start in 2020, markets experienced a long-awaited correction during March. Each correction in history is different, but this time is quite unlike the last, the financial crisis of 2008, due to its combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, Saudi/Russia oil trade wars, supply and demand shocks and the swift Read more ➝
The long running bull market was punctuated by a sharp correction in major U.S. markets last week, with uncertainty caused by the increasing spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. As often happens in such corrections, investors appeared to broadly sell risk assets in the early days followed by a more discriminate selling that hit stocks Read more ➝
Stocks and other risk assets rallied into the year-end, aided by the Federal Reserve’s third cut in interest rates, diminished trade war fears, strong labor markets and resilient consumers. The rally lifted stocks broadly, and particularly lifted those of lower-quality, less profitable and more leveraged businesses, producing headwinds for the quality-biased Ballast strategies. 2019 began Read more ➝
The quarter ending September 30 saw modest returns in U.S. mid-cap stocks while returns of small cap indexes were slightly negative. The quarter included a brief, yet sharp, period in September where value stocks outperformed their growth counterparts, leading many to wonder whether the long-awaited leadership of value stocks might be at hand. We remain in Read more ➝