The tried and tested 60/40 formula for buy-and-hold investment portfolios got off to its worst start since World War II.

The 60/40 portfolio — split between the S&P 500 Index of stocks (60%) and 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds (40%) — fell about 20% in the first half of 2022, the biggest decline on record for the start of a year, according to Goldman Sachs Research. Such ‘balanced’ portfolios, meant to blend the higher risk of stocks with the relative safety of government bonds, often have different formulations, such as a mix of corporate credit or international stocks. But virtually all of them had one of their worst starts to a year ever, according to Christian Mueller-Glissmann, head of asset allocation research within portfolio strategy at Goldman Sachs.

Almost all assets were in a precarious position at the start of the year, as valuations for stocks and bonds were hovering around their highest levels in a century, Mueller-Glissmann...

Hui Shan, chief China economist at Goldman Sachs, looks at what the latest trade figures say about the outlook for the economy. The trade surplus rose to a record as exports grew faster than expected, easing some concerns over waning global demand and providing support for an economy battling sporadic Covid outbreaks and property woes. Shan also talks about the yuan and the real estate sector on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)

[1] All information provided by participants in the 2021 HACR CII survey reflects data from their U.S.-based, corporate operations between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020.

[2] Dey, Matthew, and Mark Loewenstein. 2020. “How Many Workers Are Employed in Sectors Directly Affected by COVID-19 Shutdowns, Where Do They Work, and How Much Do They Earn?” Monthly Labor Review.

[3] Jan, Tracy and Scott Clement. 2020. “Hispanics are almost twice as likely as whites to have lost their jobs amid pandemic, poll finds.” Washington Post. Retrieved June 30, 2020. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/06/layoffs-race-poll-coronavirus/).

*Although the terms "Hispanic" and "Latino/a" often have distinct meanings, in this publication we use the terms interchangeably.

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