Rising rates have put renewed pressure on the financial system but with the S&P 500 just a few percent below all-time highs, signs of stress in the VIX have so far been minimal and importantly, have not yet shown up in corporate credit spreads, a key measure of systemic risk. 

US equity markets extended their rising trend in 2024 and when markets are trending higher, investment success often requires doing less, not more. With the bar now set very high for US stocks, the stage may be set for increased volatility in 2025. 

In the final stretch, worry this election season seemed to be not just about the outcome, but also the process itself. With a decisive outcome wiping this scenario away, “risk on” conditions have quickly returned.

Though passive and active strategies are common in most markets, today’s equity risk management offerings remain almost exclusively passive and tend to underperform as hedges decay over time. With the arrival of active risk management, investors can now diversify their hedged equity allocations more fully, with greater flexibility to construct an acceptable balance of risk reduction and potential for outperformance.

After stressing the system with the longest yield curve inversion in US history, the central planners at the Fed are now attempting to bring the largest pile of debt in world history in for a “soft landing” and the stakes for markets have likely never been higher.