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Voya Senior Portfolio Manager and Head of Asset Allocation Barbara Reinhard was on Bloomberg TV  discussing how markets have responded to geopolitical uncertainty, the decline in COVID cases and rising inflation levels. Looking at the likelihood of a strong Federal Reserve response to rising inflation levels, Reinhard said, “I don’t think you are necessarily going to get a monetary policy response. The Federal Reserve has a price stability mandate. They have very high consumer prices at this time, but I think the real channel for the Fed to be watching is going to be through the wage channel. If wages settle back down and you get crude back down, that would be a relatively very good scenario.”

Voya CIO for Fixed Income Matt Toms was recently on Bloomberg discussing the fixed income sector, specifically the “impact of geopolitical tensions, inflation, and a preview of next week’s FOMC meeting.” Toms’ segment begins near the 48-minute mark, where he notes that an economic slowdown “absolutely changes the investment landscape. You really have a tug of war between the upside to inflationary pressure that has gotten so much attention over the last six to eight months and downside pressure – not just from the long-term disinflationary influences that seem to be abating, but from the growth standpoint. There is certainly a stagflationary impulse, and what this means for fixed income is that there’s a downside risk tail we need to be aware of from a credit risk standpoint.”

Bloomberg reports on the market impact of Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, which resulted in increased volatility in global bond markets. Voya Investment Management Chief Investment Officer Matt Toms believes that “the escalated uncertainty in Ukraine, and the spike in commodity prices, moderates the outlook for global growth and therefore increases the risk for corporate credit.” The heightened risk means new bond sales will likely shut down for the remainder of the week, according to people familiar with the matter.

Appearing on Bloomberg, Voya IM’s Senior Portfolio Manager and head of Asset Allocation discussed the markets’ response to the January Labor Report and the latest announcements from the Federal Reserve. 

FundFire highlights several recent promotions made by Voya IM, including: Dina Santoro becoming the first COO, Jake Tuzza becoming the head of distribution, and Paul Bernardi, Troy Chakarun, and Hugh Ferry being named leaders of the intermediary distribution team.

Voya IM CEO Christine Hurtsllers spoke with Ignites editor Emily Laermer about how Voya educates both their advisors and their clients. Hurtsellers says it is important for Voya advisors to “have good education, good material to then help their client base.” In order to give their clients the best advice, Hurtsllers says Voya is “spending more time on education and educational resources that advisors need in order to make some of this more understandable and easier for their clients.”

Voya Investment Management (Voya IM), the asset management business of Voya Financial, Inc. (NYSE: VOYA), announced today several leadership promotions and appointments to support Voya IM’s growth plans.

Annual recognition highlights company’s commitment to providing solutions and technologies that help individuals reach financial goals with confidence.

Appearing on Bloomberg TV Voya Fixed Income CIO Matt Toms spoke on the market’s reactions to Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s comments on how the Fed is planning to fight inflation. Toms said the market is currently reacting to a “calm, measured” reaction from the Fed as Chairman Powell announced the doubling of tapering and expected rate hikes. Toms said the market is still expecting inflation to be “moderating” over the next few years. Toms believes that while it is hard to predict an exact timeline, he believes the Fed’s current timeline of ending tapering in March and beginning rate hikes is a good estimate. Minus a sharp rise in inflation that would deserve a more harsh reaction, Toms believes the current plan from the Fed is good for the equity market. Toms also believes that increasingly higher prices will push consumer spending down, which will get rid of some of the “inflationary push.”

Ignites reports Voya Investment Management CEO Christine Hurtsellers said the pandemic had “quite a bit” of an impact on data and analytics. Hurtsellers said that while it took Voya “a number of years ... to actually make sure we have really quick mobile tools using multiple sources of data,” the company currently has “a lot of bifurcated data that you actually need to bring together into one thoughtful resource for our sales team.” Hurtsellers says the ability to do so has increased productivity and allows Voya’s employees to “spend a lot more time actually engaging with clients as opposed to getting ready for meetings.”