Monetary

Oil markets will continue to be buffeted by Russian overtures to OPEC suggesting a desire to orchestrate a production cut-back, while uncertainty over the Fed's next move keeps markets on edge.

Maintain an above-benchmark portfolio duration since, favoring markets with the highest real yields that stand out in a world where 65% of Developed Market government bonds trade with a negative yield.

It is highly unusual for equities to enter a bear market without the economy going into recession. Since we see the risk of recession as low, we recommend a neutral allocation between bonds and equities.

Any recovery in risk assets and selloff in safe havens is unlikely to extend into the cyclical horizon.

The setback in global financial markets has not been enough to persuade the FOMC to alter its stance. Although the Fed is signaling that the tightening cycle has further to run, the U.S. dollar is showing signs of fraying at the edges.

The Fed will upset the rebalancing of oil markets if it misreads the current sell-off as weakness in oil demand.

The U.S. corporate re-leveraging cycle is far more advanced than is widely believed. Corporate health looks only mildly better excluding the troubled energy and materials sectors. Mushrooming leverage ratios are not restricted to junk issuers either.

The declining correlation between risk assets and Treasury yields suggests that the market perceives monetary policy to be overly restrictive. Historically, this has led the FOMC to adopt a more dovish policy stance.

With inflation expectations declining alongside asset prices in almost every major economy, central banks can at least not make things worse by being more hawkish than necessary.

Equity selloff alone will not catch the Fed's eye unless there is an outright crash.