DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Eric Dhall and Analyst Mark Kimbrough recap a Presidents’ Day-shortened market week that included a tick down for equities (00:46), positivity in fixed income (3:32) and rising commodities buoyed by gold (4:52). Over in Macro Land (6:15), they look at the FOMC meeting minutes, which include Fed officials talking about pausing QT and assessing inflation amid policy uncertainty, and the least negative LEI reading since September 2022 (7:58). The composite S&P Global U.S. manufacturing and services PMI releases (9:25) provide food for thought, including chief business economist commentary that “The upbeat mood seen among U.S. businesses at the start of the year has evaporated, replaced with a darkening picture of heightened uncertainty, stalling business activity and rising prices.” Next week (16:22) will bring prints on the housing market, consumer confidence and PCE inflation numbers.
Mr. Dhall joined DoubleLine in 2013. He is a Portfolio Manager on the Macro-Asset Allocation team where he works with portfolio management performing analysis and trading for derivatives-based and multi-asset strategies. Mr. Dhall’s research and analysis has contributed to the team’s development of DoubleLine’s smart-beta suite of strategies. Prior to DoubleLine, he worked at Capital Group performing quantitative analysis in fixed income. Prior to Capital Group, Mr. Dhall was an instructor in finance at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a research instructor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Previous to that, he worked in International Finance at Gulf Machinery Company. Mr. Dhall holds a B.S. in Physics with a secondary emphasis in Business from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.S. in Financial Engineering from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Mr. Kimbrough joined DoubleLine in 2012, where he worked primarily on Agency Mortgage Backed Securities and the Fixed Income Asset Allocation process as a member of the Risk Analyst team. He transitioned to his current role in 2019 where he serves as an Analyst on the Macro Asset Allocation team. Prior to DoubleLine, Mr. Kimbrough was at Western Asset Management working on systems monitoring and development within the Risk Department. He holds a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Real Estate Finance and a minor in Economics from the University of Southern California. Mr. Kimbrough is a CFA® charterholder.
