Clearbridge Investments

The ClearBridge Anatomy of a Recession team of Jeff Schulze and Josh Jamner make their annual forecasts for the economy and equity markets, discussing why the lagged impacts of the Fed's aggressive monetary tightening cycle should be fully felt in the year ahead and sharing their prognostications for stocks and bonds in 2024.

Portfolio Manager John Baldi and Senior Analyst Tatiana Eades join Jeff Schulze to discuss their preferences among dividend payers and income-oriented sectors such as utilities. They explain how a potential peak in interest rates could offer a tailwind for these companies, especially with recession still a key concern.

Portfolio Manager Evan Bauman provides an update on performance and positioning.

ClearBridge ESG analysts Ben Buckley and Anna Cala highlight recent biodiversity-focused international agreements and initiatives, explain the main drivers of biodiversity loss and the investment opportunities ClearBridge is seeing as we examine nature-related impacts and dependencies across sectors.

ClearBridge Portfolio Managers Matt Lilling and Mike Kagan join Head of Economic and Market Strategy Jeff Schulze to debate the recent disconnect between strong equity performance amid a weakening economic backdrop, what factors could support resilient corporate earnings and where they see pockets of market strength in the back half of the year.

Health care analysts Marshall Gordon and Brittany Henderson highlight new treatments for the chronic conditions of diabetes and obesity. They quantify the size of the Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and obesity markets, discuss innovations in managing diabetes and explain how GLP-1 therapeutics developed to treat diabetes can be effective in addressing the much larger obese population.

Technology analysts Hilary Frisch and Anuj Parikh provide perspective on the surge of interest in generative AI and the likely paths forward for its application.

ClearBridge Analyst Rob Buesing explains the defensive characteristics of consumer staples companies and where he sees stock opportunities across the beauty and food and beverage industries as China reopens but a U.S. recession looms.

Dimitry Dayen and Hannah Whang break down recent decarbonization commitments from the aviation industry, the nascent technologies such as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) those commitments will need to rely on, the role of the Inflation Reduction Act in spurring innovation and how industrial software companies are enabling emissions optimizations as new products and infrastructure are built.

The Anatomy of a Recession team of Jeff Schulze and Josh Jamner discuss the resilience of a weakening U.S. economy, focusing on whether 2023 will yield a long awaited recession or escape with a soft landing, the potential timing of a Fed pivot and implications of these various scenarios on equities.

Sector Analysts Hilary Frisch and Naveen Jayasundaram discuss the headwinds that have impacted mega cap and other long duration growth stocks in 2022 and how they are sifting through the rubble to identify compelling opportunities in derisked or overlooked companies in technology, internet and related areas.

Investment Strategist Jeff Schulze joins Consuelo Mack to discuss rising recession risks as measured by a yellow signal for the ClearBridge Recession Risk Dashboard and analyzes how a resilient labor market and peaking inflation could still allow the Federal Reserve to engineer a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

ClearBridge Portfolio Manager Chris Eades and Commodities Analyst Adam Meyers discuss how an increased focus on cash flow generation and financial discipline by energy companies as well as new energy legislation will impact domestic oil and natural gas production.

Portfolio Manager Charles Hamieh breaks down how infrastructure acts as a pass-through for inflation and rising rates, what separates it from commodities and real estate in its ability to provide inflation protection, and where he sees opportunities in infrastructure asset class.

ClearBridge Senior Health Care Analyst Marshall Gordon and Portfolio Manager Jean Yu discuss investment risks and opportunities in the health care sector.

Portfolio Analyst Steve Rigo joins Investment Strategist Jeff Schulze to trace the spike in inflation, analyze how the Federal Reserve is seeking to tame it and what signals would indicate success. They also discuss where to invest in a period of sharply rising interest rates and higher recession risks and the medium term outlook for equities.

Robin Freeman hosts Ben Buckley and David Hochstim to discuss the role of financial companies in helping the world reach net-zero emissions. They offer highlights from the 2022 ClearBridge Stewardship Report, which gives a comprehensive view of the latest in ESG investing at ClearBridge, explain how they assess climate risks, discuss the value of carbon footprinting, and weigh company commitments to lowering carbon emissions.

Senior Industrials Analyst Hannah Whang and Portfolio Manager Pawel Wroblewski discuss the near-term and secular impacts on industrial companies due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, highlighting the likelihood of increased defense spending in Europe and the region’s stepped-up focus on energy security.

ClearBridge Portfolio Manager Charles Hamieh weighs in on how infrastructure portfolios fare during periods of inflation and rising bond yields.

ClearBridge’s Investment Strategist Jeff Schulze explains why U.S. economic health, more than geopolitics, will drive markets in 2022.