Tactical Asset Allocation – June 2016

There isn’t a whole lot to be said about June other than the market was volatile. The US Core Strategy rose twice to 1.5%+- and twice declined that much before recovering to +1.07% on the last trading day of June. Year-to-date, the US Core Strategy has been out of the market for January and positive for February through June. For the YTD: return is 3.79%, Compound Annual Growth Rate is 7.79%, Maximum Daily Drawdown is 3.7%, and Daily Standard Deviation is a very low 6.5%. We’ll put on risk when the time is opportune but for now I think we’ve got a good bunker.

We have had just two major rebalances this year. First at the end of January when we moved from cash into a fixed income allocation which carried us through February and March Second at the end of March when we moved from fixed income into an equity allocation which carries us through April, May, and June. I did not bother trading the few shares required to rebalance at the end of February, April and May. June brings a pronounced shift in exposure and will require rebalancing.

June brings an end to three months of Core Strategy research targeted toward providing an option for broader asset class exposure while maintaining low levels of volatility. The original Core Strategy is US-centric with a maximum exposure of 7.5% to International assets. This Strategy has performed well; however we should anticipate future market conditions which may be more favorable for International assets and precious metals. PM's have historically been a good hedge against bond risk which I believe is quite elevated. Broadened International exposure includes both developed and emerging markets. The new Global Core Strategy is described under the Core Strategies topic.