Positioning a portfolio ahead of inflation – ALPS and USCF – 5.31.18

Summary:

The direction of inflation rates tends to be more impactful than rates themselves since prices are inherent to asset valuations generally. Price movements across asset classes of course effects performance, and understanding long term inflation trends can assist advisors to structure portfolios accordingly. Join us for this live discussion that will cover:

• What does U.S. history teach us about inflation?
• Assets that beat inflation versus assets that correlate with inflation
• Risk, return and inflation correlations
• Commodities versus stocks of commodity producers

Speakers:

Geert Rouwenhorst is the Robert B. and Candice J. Haas Professor of Corporate Finance & Deputy Director of the International Center for Finance Professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management. He has held visiting positions at the International Monetary Fund and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Geert has done extensive work on quantitative equity and commodities futures strategies for public pension funds, asset management firms and investment banks. His research includes business cycles theory, the empirical work on the trade-off between risk and return in developed and emerging stock markets, and hedge funds strategies. Geert is co-author of two widely cited academic papers on commodities futures and commodities futures returns. His papers have been published in academic journals such as The Journal of Finance, as well as applied journals such as The Journal of Portfolio Management. He co-edited the Origins of Value: the Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets (Oxford University Press, 2005), which was honored as a book of the year by Barron’s and The Economist.

Geert is also Partner and Head of Research at SummerHaven Index Management which collaborates with USCF on several products including six exchange traded products and one mutual fund: United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI), USCF SummerHaven Dynamic Commodity Strategy No K-1 Fund (SDCI), United States Copper Index Fund (CPER), United States Agriculture Index Fund (USAG), The USCF SummerHaven SHPEI Index Fund (BUY), USCF SummerHaven SHPEN Index Fund (BUYN) and the USCF Commodity Strategy Fund (USCIX/USCFX).

Geert earned his Ph.D in Business Administration from the University of Rochester.

Kevin brings over 20 years of experience as a Senior Commodities Portfolio Manager. Kevin is responsible for expanding USCF’s product line and overseeing the company’s investment policies and portfolio management team. Prior to joining USCF, he was Senior Portfolio Manager of Alternatives and Commodities for Invesco PowerShares. Kevin was part of the OppenheimerFunds team responsible for launching the first commodities mutual fund and subsequently incorporated the first off-shore Cayman subsidiary for a commodities fund. Kevin also served as Senior Portfolio Manager, Head of Commodities and earned the Barron’s/Value Line “Top 100 Managers” designation three times. Kevin is a CFA Charterholder and CAIA Charterholder. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance, from Texas Tech University.