Our Perspective on Industry News and Trends

Over the past two years, Americans have faced a turbulent economic environment that has included many distinct challenges. Lockdowns, supply chain issues, and the war in Ukraine have all had a material impact on the global economy, leading to high inflation. Senior Portfolio Manager Matt Yung and Research Analyst Kristen Curtiss discuss the inflation outlook and the Federal Reserve's response.

Johnson Investment Counsel founder Tim Johnson has built a wealth of knowledge from his 50+ years in investing. In this 2nd edition of a two-part Research Edge, Tim joins Senior Portfolio Manager Jim Hunter to discuss down markets, provide advice for young investors, and examine how JIC became the firm it is today.

Tim Johnson founded Johnson Investment Counsel in 1965 with a focus on helping others and providing guidance that could ultimately improve our clients’ lives.  Over his 50+ years in investing, he's gathered a wealth of knowledge about the industry.  In the first edition of a special two-part JIC Research Edge, Tim joins Senior Portfolio Manager Jim Hunter to share some of his experiences with our clients.

The coronavirus pandemic has had a profound impact on daily life and has significantly impacted businesses across all industries.  Perhaps nowhere has the impact been more apparent than in Health Care, and JIC analyst Joe Abbott has had a front row seat to see how the sector has responded.  In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Joe joins Portfolio Manager Laura Mattern to discuss COVID's impact on the Health Care sector.

When developing our asset allocation and equity models, one of the investment types we consider is real estate.  We believe real estate can add diversification, inflation protection, and a balance of growth and income to client portfolios.  In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Credit Analyst Brad Morrissey and Portfolio Manager Brian Butt discuss how our clients access real estate and what types of real estate we invest in.

High inflation has the potential to erode the purchasing power of one’s savings. In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Portfolio Manager Max Monk and Fixed Income Portfolio Manager Ryan Martin discuss what inflation is, the primary drivers of recent inflation concerns, and how JIC positions client accounts to offset the potential impact of inflation.

One characteristic that makes us unique versus other advisors is our in-house research staff.  In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Portfolio Manager Jeff Cornell and Director of Research Brian Kute give you a behind-the-scenes look into how our research team picks stocks.

With the election mostly complete, we turn our attention to the potential market impact. In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Brandon Zureick walks through our thoughts on what to expect from a Biden administration and a possible divided Congress.

The region Johnson Investment Counsel serves is blessed to have many strong public companies in a wide variety of industries.  We’re establishing the Research Edge 40  – an index of S&P 500 companies out of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan – to help track those firms.  In this edition, Research Analysts Joe Edelstein and Chris Godby weigh in on BorgWarner, J. M. Smucker, Kroger, and Alliance Data Systems.

Asset allocation has historically been the most important determinant of portfolio total return and volatility.  In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, President & CIO Jason Jackman and Senior Portfolio Manager Fred Brink discuss what asset allocation is and what role it plays in portfolio construction.  They also breakdown the asset allocation implications of the COVID-19 crisis.

2019 was a strong year for the financial markets with equities posting robust gains. Are we likely to see a repeat of that performance in 2020 or are we poised for lower returns? In this edition of the JIC Research Edge, Portfolio Managers Charles Rinehart and Dan Barnett recap what happened in 2019 and provide an outlook for 2020.