News, insights and thought leadership from the City Different team.
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Since April, I've had a lot of conversations about whether Treasuries are still a viable safe haven investment. After “Liberation Day,” 10-year Treasuries sold off by ~50 basis points, creating a...
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One of my favorite Seinfeld standup routines compared “Morning Jerry” or “Nighttime Jerry.” Well-rested Morning Jerry was rational and responsible; he made decisions that benefitted himself in the...
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Most fixed income conversations spend a lot of time on what to own (e.g. credit quality, duration, sector exposure) and not nearly enough time on how the portfolio is put together. But structure...
Since April, I've had a lot of conversations about whether Treasuries are still a viable safe haven investment. After “Liberation Day,” 10-year Treasuries sold off by ~50 basis points, creating a...
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After a few years of rate shocks, inflation whiplash, and underwriting gymnastics, 2025 felt like a year where dealmakers could finally take a full breath… and then immediately remember there’s still...
One of my favorite Seinfeld standup routines compared “Morning Jerry” or “Nighttime Jerry.” Well-rested Morning Jerry was rational and responsible; he made decisions that benefitted himself in the...
Most fixed income conversations spend a lot of time on what to own (e.g. credit quality, duration, sector exposure) and not nearly enough time on how the portfolio is put together. But structure...
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Shares of London-based IHS Towers crashed during the post-COVID turmoil of 2022-2024. But could they rise again? Cell towers are a critical element of communications infrastructure, enabling the flow...
Why We Believe SMID Cap Core Can Beat Separate Small & Mid Allocations Many investors instinctively split their equity sleeve into a “small-cap fund” and a “mid-cap fund,” assuming that...
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Why Time in the Market Beats Timing the Market You might think investors unequivocally love periods of sustained market strength. But, that’s obviously not the case. Money managers fret about market...
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At dinner the other night, my youngest daughter asked what I actually do all day in my office. I work from home pretty often, so from her perspective, I just disappear behind a closed door for hours...
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No one likes an alarmist know-it-all (except maybe the folks riding Michael Burry’s coattails through the 2008 financial collapse… but even a lot of those folks thought he had lost his mind). I know...
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Profitability sounds simple: add up what comes in, subtract what goes out, and you know where you stand. But anyone who has ever prepped their business for sale (or kicked the tires on a potential...
Everywhere you look right now, headlines seem dour: the dollar is weakening, inflation is simmering, geopolitics are rocky (at best)... it’s enough to worry even seasoned investors. But there’s...
In July, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The name sounds like it was a placeholder until they came up with something better… then just forgot to rename it before launch, but...
I’ve been feeling uneasy about financial markets lately… not because I think we’re headed for a carbon copy of 2008, but because a few old patterns are starting to bubble back up. Not in the same...
There’s a line from the movie The Last Boy Scout that’s always stuck with me: "Water's wet, the sky is blue..." (gunna add my own spin on it here) ... and market risks, Jimmy, they’re out there and...
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Connor and I both majored in economics. We spent four years steeped in macro theory, poring over models of trade, labor, and monetary policy. Since then, we’ve found… let’s say, limited use for most...
I’ve worked in this industry for 25 years at this point. I’ve seen trends come and go, asset classes boom and bust, and countless firms try to differentiate themselves on everything from process to...
Why we focus on ‘total return’ (and what that means for your portfolio) When evaluating the performance of our strategies from our fixed income desk, we focus on total return. In our view, it’s the...
Open the Wall Street Journal today (or yesterday… or the day before…) and you’ll find some breathless headline about how AI is transforming the global economy. That’s not wrong, necessarily… but it’s...
I’ve been in this business for almost 25 years. And I’ve seen the same thing happen over and over again: firms get big, add layers, professionalize everything to death… and in the process, completely...
Jong recently traveled to the UK with his family over Easter. And because he can never stop thinking about investing, below he describes how a trip that started out as a soccer fan’s pilgrimage to...
There’s always a case for owning small and mid-cap U.S. stocks… but right now, it’s hard to ignore just how compelling that case has become. Small and mid-cap U.S. stocks are currently trading at a...
Tariffs: The Illusion of a Quick Fix in a Complex Global Economy Tariffs are one of those ideas that sound simple enough on paper: we tax imported stuff... that makes domestic products more...
Alternative investments are having a moment... but is the hype justified? In this candid conversation, Chris Ryon (co-founder of City Different Investments and half of our fixed income desk) sits...
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you...” Rudyard Kipling Yesterday, I noticed Warren Buffet was in the press quoting this Kipling piece, one of my...
