U.S. Economy Braces for Bout of Stagflation – American Century Investments – 7.21.22

Summary:

Now On Demand

Taming raging inflation is the Federal Reserve’s top priority, even if the economy falters in the process. Hiking interest rates in a weak economy isn’t the norm, but it’s the unusual task facing the central bank. Because of this, we believe investors should prepare for a period of stagflation, with recession a growing probability.

Join Bob Gahagan, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager for American Century’s core bond and inflation-protection strategies, and Balaji Venkataraman, client portfolio manager, as they discuss today’s extraordinary investment climate.

What you can expect to learn:

• The drivers behind the 41-year-high inflation rate and why we believe inflation may be nearing a peak.
• The value we see in inflation-protected bonds right now.
• The opportunities that exist among high-quality securities, which now happen to come with much higher income.
  

Speakers:

Robert Gahagan is senior vice president and senior portfolio manager for American Century Investments, a premier investment manager headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Bob is based in the company’s Mountain View, California office.

Bob is a member of the firm’s Global Fixed Income Investment Committee, which sets investment outlook for the Fixed Income group, and leads the Rates and Currency team. He also serves as a senior portfolio manager on several fixed income strategies, including U.S. Core Fixed Income and U.S. Core Plus, as well as our U.S. inflation-linked and government-related fixed income strategies. Bob joined American Century in 1983.

Bob holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a mater’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a member of the Security Analysts of San Francisco.

Balaji Venkataraman is a client portfolio manager for American Century Investments, a premier investment manager headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. He is based in the company’s New York office.

Balaji is responsible for representing portfolio management in communicating fixed income investment strategies and results to the firm’s clients. He joined American Century in 2022 from Wellington Management, where he was an investment specialist within the Financial Reserves Management team. In this role, he worked closely with fixed income investment teams to help ensure the integrity of investment approaches by overseeing portfolio positioning, performance, and risk exposures. Prior to joining Wellington Management, Balaji worked as a senior project manager at Casey, Quirk & Associates, where he advised investment managers globally on business growth and product management strategies. Previously, he worked at two fixed income hedge fund managers, NWI Management and Claren Road Asset Management, as a trading assistant and investor relations professional. He has worked in the investment industry since 2003.

Balaji holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in business administration from the Yale School of Management.