Expo West Highlights Trends as March Momentum Holds Strong Despite ongoing market volatility in March the food & beverage M&A landscape remained resilient Beverages (~25% distribution (~20% packaged food (~33% and restaurants (~15% led the deal mix with mega deals (> $1B accounting for over 10% of monthly activity Continue reading

Marci Masur serves as Head of Corporate Real Estate at Mesirow In this capacity Marci is responsible for strategically evaluating modernizing and maintaining Mesirow’s national and international office locations She oversees lease negotiations renovations growth and ongoing operations for all offices as well as manages the Mesirow facilities team third party contractors and more than 100 vendor…

Marcin Bednarczyk is a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager in Mesirow Currency Management He is a member of the team responsible for the ongoing implementation of investment client portfolios and interacting with the group’s global and diverse client base Marcin has nearly 20 years of currency management experience Before joining Mesirow Marcin served as Senior Portfolio Manager at…

Marge Rodriguez is a Client Relationship Specialist in Mesirow Wealth Management She is responsible for day-to-day client service and communications including client trade requests account processing and documentation Marge joined the firm in 1988 and has more than 40 years of experience in the financial services industry During her tenure with Mesirow she has built strong relationships with her…

Marion Soriano is an Administrative Associate in Mesirow Institutional Real Estate Direct Marion has over 25 years of experience as an administrative professional Prior to joining Mesirow Marion served in various administrative roles at Shannon Advisors and Eroom Securities LLC Marion received a Certificate in Accounting from Heald Business College  

Mark Whitaker is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Municipal Sales and Research in Mesirow’s Institutional Sales and Trading division He is head of the municipal research team with a specialized focus on high-yield securities and plays an integral role on both the credit commitment and senior risk committees Mark has 16 years of experience in financial markets with twelve of those years…

It’s often hard to tell the difference between relevant market information and noise That’s why every quarter our Market Observations newsletter lets you know what articles our advisors are using to form ideas and shape opinions Take a look at what caught our eye this quarter, MESIROW, Tariffs and market impact, Following President Trump’s tariff announcement on April 2 Mesirow shared some perspectives on the announcement and market reaction along with ideas for how to navigate periods of uncertainty The announcement policy turned out to be much more drastic than markets expected resulting in sharp selloffs across most equity markets Though the full impact of the change in trade policy is still…, Four questions you should ask to combat the market chaos, Human nature leads us to weigh recent information heavily in our decision-making process So when volatile markets like those in early April suddenly interrupt periods of relative calm the drastic changes in market prices can make you feel you need to respond with drastic changes in your own portfolio However investing is a much different activity than responding to the natural stimuli for which…, A world of tariffs, Following Novembers election markets had begun to price in an expectation of tariffs — a major campaign promise of President Trump Even still the Rose Garden announcement managed to spook global stock and bond markets as the magnitude of the trade policies announced were far more extreme than what most had anticipated In this commentary the team at First Eagle Investments looks at both the short-…, Why veteran fund manager Steve Romick isnt leaning in hard, The market sell-off that began in mid-February led markets to markets that while down significantly from their peaks still traded at historically elevated levels In this interview with Morningstar FPAs Steve Romick mused that while valuations are down from where they were at the beginning of the year and a little bit further from their peak it’s not like they’re giving stuff away As a result hes…

It’s often hard to tell the difference between relevant market information and noise That’s why every quarter our Market Observations newsletter lets you know what articles our advisors are using to form ideas and shape opinions Take a look at what caught our eye this quarter, MORNINGSTAR, 13 Charts on Q4s Big Postelection Rally - and Late Stumble, In 2024 economic growth growing corporate earnings falling interest rates and a soaring Technology and Artificial Intelligence trade boosted markets to all-time highs The gains were not evenly distributed however as during the fourth quarter growth stocks continued to build on their 2024 gains while other sectors of the market — such as value dividend small cap and international stocks — turned…, On Bubble Watch, Recent years in the market have been unique with the S&P 500 returning over 20% in back-to-back years for only the fifth time in history driven largely by the magnificent seven [Apple Microsoft Alphabet (Google’s parent Amazoncom Nvidia Meta (owner of Facebook WhatsApp and Instagram and Tesla] which accounted for more than half of the indexs 2024 return Further these seven companies now…, Podcast Capital Allocators Interview with Marco Maven Scott Bessent, President-elect Trump recently tapped Scott Bessent as his choice for Treasury secretary Bessent has had a long and successful career as an investor having worked for several legendary hedge fund managers including Jim Rogers George Soros and Jim Chanos before launching his own fund In this wide-ranging conversation with host Ted Seides which was recorded before the election Bessent talks about…

It’s often hard to tell the difference between relevant market information and noise That’s why every quarter our Market Observations newsletter lets you know what articles our advisors are using to form ideas and shape opinions Take a look at what caught our eye this quarter, MESIROW, Reflections from Omaha Six core investment principles , Mesirow Wealth Management Research Team members were fortunate to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder Meeting in Omaha where legendary investor Warren Buffett announced his retirement as CEO at age 94 While the meeting serves as an update on Berkshire it’s also a gathering place for like-minded investors to reinforce the core principles Buffett has championed over his 60+ year career…, ETFs are booming Mutual Funds want in on the action, Over the past five years launches of new Exchange Traded Funds (or ETFs have eclipsed the launches of new mutual funds as investor interest and flexibility around the ETF structure have grown This New York Times article explores the evolving “ ETF vs Mutual Fund ” debate between two of the most popular investment vehicles It highlights some key differences ETFs offer intraday trading potentially…, Different kinds of smarts, The article opens with Jeff Bezos’s observation that “there are a lot of kinds of smart” followed by a recap of the dramatic 1998 collapse of Long-Term Capital Management — an investment group that billed itself as the smartest ever assembled — as a cautionary tale that brilliance alone doesn’t guarantee success Instead true intelligence encompasses traits like humility imagination cross-…

It’s often hard to tell the difference between relevant market information and noise That’s why every quarter our Market Observations newsletter lets you know what articles our advisors are using to form ideas and shape opinions Take a look at what caught our eye this quarter, MORNINGSTAR, How the 2024 election could affect your portfolio, An election with a binary outcome — where one of two candidates will be our next president — can lead investors to believe that they need to also plan for their finances in a binary manner based on their predicted outcome The truth is much more nuanced as market performance has varied wildly without a strong correlation to the party that holds the presidency or Congress Further the path of least…, Whats in a cycle, At its September meeting the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percent The consensus view is that this marked a change from the cycle of interest rate increases to a new cycle of interest rate declines This column from Jason Zweig looks at past rate cycles and reminds us History shows that interest rates seldom move down or up in a smooth and predictable path Zweig reminds us that the…, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is leading the league to historic highs, Five years ago Cathy Engelbert stepped down as CEO of Deloitte where she oversaw more than $20 billion in revenue Engelbert left the consulting firm and its 100000-plus employees to join the WNBA as its commissioner where she inherited a much smaller staff of just 12 Her first year in the role saw her face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and internal and external threats to the leagues…