NEPC’s Jennifer Appel was recently quoted in this S&P Global Market Intelligence article discussing the renewed risk appetite among U.S. investors and what it could signal for markets ahead. Read the full piece on S&P Global’s website.
US investors reported a renewed risk appetite for the first time since July, along with an optimistic outlook for near-term equity market performance not seen since January.
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“There has been a lot of optimism built into markets despite some of the concerns around elevated valuations or geopolitics, so markets have been able to look through the government shutdown due to some of the tailwinds that have driven markets since April, such as accelerated rate cut expectations,” Jennifer Appel, senior investment director at NEPC, said in an interview.
Although the shutdown could become one of the longest for the government, markets are focused less on its duration and more on its economic impact, which should be minimal, Appel said.
“When thinking about economic growth, inflation or monetary policy, it’s hard to say that we’re going to see the 2025 shutdown derailing some of those tenets of the current environment,” Appel said. “We would expect this to be a pretty short-lived event for the market even if the shutdown itself is lasting longer.”