Looking across the pond

Question: Are there international opportunities investors should consider?

Phil Orlando: There's no question that the dollar is at historic highs versus a number of our trading partners, the yen, the pound, the euro. But we're also at a very critical inflection point internationally in terms of going into the winter and what the impact of the Russia/Ukrainian war may be on economic growth, food, energy, et cetera. The international markets right now developed are trading about 43% below the valuation of domestic markets. In many cases, valuation could be its own catalyst. But it appears to us that the international markets, particularly Europe, may be going into an inevitable recession given the energy war that Russia and Putin are waging against them. Our view is that while stocks are certainly cheap and the dollar is certainly strong, which makes foreign goods and services more attractive fundamentally, I think we'd wait a little bit longer, allow that recession to actually develop and see how low valuations are and what the clarity on some of those fundamentals are before we begin to significantly invest back into the international markets.