Ali Dibadj: Hey, it’s Ali Dibadj, CEO Janus Henderson. We’re here at our conference Partnerships for a Brighter Futures, where we have hundreds of clients waiting in the hallway with a lot of energy to talk about what’s going on in the market today. I’m joined today by Alex Veroude, our Global Head of Fixed Income, and Marc Pinto, our Head of Americas Equities.

Guys, there’s a lot going on in the world right now. Alex, maybe start with you. What are clients talking about these days?

Alex Veroude: Yeah, the obvious question that everybody’s been talking about is the US and the US deficit and what to make of treasuries here. Do you buy, do you sell – what’s the view?

And while it’s tricky to answer it, it does highlight there’s potential for active managers to take a view, and I think clients are interested in hearing that view as well.

Dibadj: Marc, how about you?

Marc Pinto: So, we’ve seen a change from the last couple of years where the large cap indices dominated by the MAG 7 have delivered great returns for investors.

And now we’re entering into a bit of an uncertain period where the bellwethers of the market are actually underperforming. The markets broadened, and the concentrated indices aren’t such a good alternative. So, I think clients are exploring opportunities in active management. Given that the markets broaden, that’s typically a great environment for us.

And then I think they’re trying to be thematic in terms of where they invest and looking at sectors where we’re going to see growth regardless of tariff policy, regardless of politics and other issues. So, clearly technology and healthcare are the two big ones. And we believe and I think clients believe that those two sectors will continue to grow. And it’s a great place to ride out the uncertainty.

Dibadj: Marc, where do you see opportunities over the next few months that perhaps clients aren’t looking into?

Pinto: So, we came into the year sort of highlighting three or making three predictions, and two out of the three have come to fruition. So, the first one was that international [global ex-US] would outperform US. We’ve seen that the international indices, you know, some ten percentage points better than the S&P [500].¹ We also said that the market would broaden and that’s happened. The S&P equal weighted has outperformed the S&P and the MAG 7.

The one that has not come to fruition is that small caps are outperformed large caps. And we really attribute that to the fact that the rate easing [reduction] cycle was put on hold with the inflationary fears from obviously the tariffs. So, we still think those three premises hold water. And I think clients sort of agree with that.

The valuations between international and US are very wide. And as active managers, we’re seeing compelling opportunities out there.

Dibadj: You know, my guess is, given everything that’s going on, private equity, small and mid-cap will certainly be a place where people look as well. What about a fixed income, Alex? What do you say?

Veroude: Yeah. So, one of our themes in the fixed income area was the return of the cost in capital or, you know, the flip image of that being higher yields. We’ve definitely had a fair share of higher yields over the first few months of the year. And it’s been actually a pretty good environment for people with a medium to longer term horizon, you know, to harvest those yields.

And I think people are looking, you know, on the one hand side looking closer to home of where to find those yields. And one of the areas that has been, you know, very fruitful for yields has been, you know, securitised. It’s been, you know, a relative haven of stability and stability of credit quality as well.

The other thing is clearly like looking for diversification in fixed income from, you know, a very heavy overweight to US type of risk. Again, in conjunction to what Marc was saying as well, broaden out more international. And we definitely see opportunities in capital markets away from the US and fixed income as well.

Dibadj: So, you guys are going to be both on stage in  a little bit here talking about what you see in the world in front of roughly 100 different clients from around the world. What are going to be the highlights of that session? Alex, maybe start with you.

Veroude: Well, I think it will be interesting. You know, obviously, yes, we’re on stage, but we’re not on stage alone. Right. We are joined by some really good experts and different perspectives. I’m actually quite interested to hear what, you know, what real practitioners actually real money investors are thinking of it. Because I think one of our key objectives is to kind of interact with that need and kind of try to figure out how to, you know, marry up our ideas with their outcomes and create products and solutions that work for that. So that’s what I’m most excited about.

Dibadj: Marc?

Pinto: So, I think some of the big takeaways are that we’re seeing clients come back to active management and actually clients are being forward thinking. We’re seeing examples where they’re embracing categories that have underperformed, like small cap. As you know, we’ve had a record number of searches for small cap strategies.

So, I think clients are if they’re looking forward, they’re trying to anticipate as opposed to just go with the flow. And that’s led to some very interesting discussions where, to Alex’s point, I’ve learned a lot, understanding their perspective and maybe how it’s changed, you know, in the last six to nine months.

Dibadj: Well, that connection we’re talking about between us and you, our clients, is actually symbolised by this big ampersand here. It’s a connection point between you and us, something that the 350 [institutional] investors that we have across the world and the 600 marketing and client service people around the world can deliver for you.

If you need any help, let us know. Bye for now.