Institutional money managers are grappling with a grim investing outlook, sending them on a hunt for the next big idea decades after the late David Swensen triggered a revolution when he arrived at Yale’s endowment in 1985.
It is a pressing problem. Asset allocators like Swensen — who steer big institutional pools of money like pension plans, endowments or sovereign wealth funds — are facing one of the trickiest investing landscapes in history.
The bond bull rally, which has pulled down yields, has meant that there are precious few sources of income left across global markets. Even European junk bond yields are now below where 10-year US government debt was a decade ago.