T. Rowe Price

Join the experts at T. Rowe Price and VettaFi for a 30-minute LiveCast as they dig into the equity market outlook.

Understanding the equity markets is critical to building a portfolio that can strategically tackle the challenges that continue to face investors. Rates, inflation, and economic factors continue to be important, and advisors need to rapidly understand which styles, market segments, and regions are most strategically ripe to meet their needs.

Join the experts at T. Rowe Price and VettaFi as they unpack the equity market outlook.

In this 30-minute LiveCast, experts from T. Rowe Price and VettaFi talk through a unique strategic approach to stock selection, finding capital appreciation, and more.

Join VettaFi, David Giroux, and the rest of the T. Rowe Price team for a robust discussion where you can learn how to set your portfolio up for success.

The healthy employment picture has supported consumer spending, but it has also prompted the Fed to signal that more interest rate increases are coming this year.

Investors can take advantage of the diversification and defensive attributes of value. Higher exposure to financials, utilities, and cyclicals offers potential to mitigate the worst effects of inflation, while also offering greater levels of defense in times of rising rates and more volatile markets.

The cost of goods may be peaking, but the rising cost of services clouds the inflation outlook. In our view, the Fed’s fight with inflation is far from over and will likely continue to be a headwind for the economy and equity markets. Therefore, our outlook remains cautious, and our Asset Allocation Committee is underweight stocks relative to bonds.

The rapid innovation and disruption occurring across industries, coupled with a market that is digesting dislocations stemming from the coronavirus pandemic and a flood of central bank liquidity, mean that differentiating between volatility and actual business risk is more critical than ever for growth investors with a longer time horizon.

The global recovery appears on track, but policymakers may be challenged to restrain inflation without stifling growth. U.S. equity valuations are vulnerable to rising interest rates. Slowing U.S. earnings growth could increase the attractiveness of ex-U.S. equity markets. The risk of central bank missteps could produce volatile bond markets.

The delta variant seems likely to have only delayed rather than derailed the global recovery—perhaps making growth over the coming quarters modestly more robust than it might otherwise have been. How today’s elevated bond and equity valuations will respond to the normalization of monetary policy is an open question, however.

Investors have renewed interest in tax-efficient investment models in search of better after-tax returns. Municipal bonds can be impactful in a tax-efficient portfolio, but equity tax-efficiency can be harder to find. Investors could consider tax-advantaged investment vehicles, dedicated tax-efficient strategies, and active mutual funds with tax-efficient alpha.

The value rally has recently fizzled, and growth stocks have regained ground, narrowing the performance gap considerably. However, despite strong fundamentals, growth stock valuations are extreme relative to value stocks. Our Asset Allocation Committee continues to favor value stocks as potential catalysts could be supportive.

In March and April, our Asset Allocation Committee modestly decreased the allocation to equities, given elevated stock valuations and a moderating economic outlook. In our view, key performance drivers may peak in the near term, which could temper potential equity returns going forward.

Economic recovery from the pandemic appears set to strengthen across regions and countries in the second half of 2021. A key question is whether growth will be strong enough to meet earnings expectations without fueling inflation. Valuations for many equity averages are stretched, but there may be outperformance potential in some non-U.S. markets.

Historically, equities have tended to generate higher medium- and long-term returns than fixed income and cash assets. Our analysis suggests that over the 95 years that ended in December 2020, most investors could have accumulated larger balances by following higher-equity glide paths, even after experiencing large market declines near retirement.