Our hearts are heavy witnessing the Russian invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine, an aggressive military escalation putting the lives and freedom of Ukraine’s people at risk with impacts reverberating across the world.
Russia’s war on Ukraine raises very difficult prospects for Europe with the potential for vast negative repercussions worldwide. While the situation remains unpredictable and a wider-scale war in Europe is a real risk, Putin seems to have mistakenly calculated that division among NATO members would play to his advantage. Mindful of this, we are encouraged by signs over the weekend of an emerging “coalition of the willing” – including the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe led by Germany – working together to counter Putin’s aggression.
Amid this geopolitical instability and resulting market volatility, we are constantly monitoring monetary policy impacts in the US and the Eurozone, the impact on global growth and consumer demand, and the pace of policy action on renewables and alternative energy. While there are many forces at play across various sectors and industries, our long-term, bottom-up, macro-aware approach has us closely tracking our portfolios’ sensitivity to this evolving conflict.
For now, our thoughts are with the people of Ukraine and those impacted around the world during this uncertain time for us all. If you have questions or concerns you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly. Until then, we will continue to do all that we can to serve you, aligning values and investments and standing firm with the global community committed to peace, freedom, stability, and prosperity.
Sincerely,
Ally McDonald
Chief Executive Officer
