We are moving back towards our Strategic targets by shifting a modest amount of cash/short-duration fixed income back up to U.S. Small Caps. We will remain slightly underweight Growth vs. Stability on the grounds of very weak forward return expectations for U.S. Large Caps and negative momentum in China. The U.S. economy is relatively well positioned for a potential soft landing in 2024. In the meantime, we are keeping a close eye on opportunities in distressed debt and private income as the year evolves.

This is a summary. Please contact your client advisor for the full Tactical Allocation Viewpoints report.

Private family trust companies (PTCs) are business entities established by families to serve as the trustee of their family trusts. The PTC may be an efficient and effective way to optimize family wealth governance through enhanced family control, beneficiary engagement and education, and multigenerational succession planning.

In this article, we offer a brief introduction to private trust companies (PTCs) provided by Willow Street, a sister company to Pathstone. In December, our colleagues Scott Weaver and Kea Molnar presented on the benefits of PTCs to Family Enterprise USA. Scott was recently named Chief Fiduciary Officer of Pathstone and also serves as General Counsel and Chief Fiduciary Officer of Willow Street; Kea is a Managing Director at Willow Street.

Willow Street specializes in advisory, governance, and operations for Wyoming PTCs and provides corporate trustee services to clients seeking a responsive, relationship-focused fiduciary. The full PTC guide is available via this link. To learn more about whether a PTC is suitable for your needs, please contact your Pathstone advisor.

Despite a slow start to Q4, low treasury bond issuance, a dovish Fed, and cooling inflation led to double digit returns for equities and one of the best quarters in decades for bonds. Leading into November, small caps were down -4.5% YTD but the recent rally and surge of regional banks led to double digit returns in December alone. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note concluded the year nearly where it started at 3.9%, and down from its October peak of 5%; this end of year rally staved off what could have been a record 3rd consecutive down year for bonds. Lastly, lower energy prices caused broad commodities to move lower in Q4 and were one of the few asset classes in negative territory in 2023. Cuts in oil production, geopolitics, and shifts in monetary policy could cause commodity prices to be quite volatile in 2024.