Behind the Numbers, with Liz Ann Sonders

Charles Schwab's chief investment strategist has bumped up Schwab's stock allocation this month and notes that the increase is a result of a bullish outlook on international stocks. "We had been overweighting emerging markets but were neutral to developed international markets, now we're overweight in both," she says. "That's where the bump to the stock allocation came, not on the U.S. side. Looking at the [current] point in the economic cycle and the monetary cycle, and [also looking] at valuation, and earnings growth, there is a likelihood of outperformance by the international markets relative to the U.S. markets." Sonders noted that Schwab's portfolio model is at a maximum underweight of fixed income allocation, and on the U.S. equities side, they remain neutral, or at their benchmark. "It's certainly not a bearish call on the U.S. market, we just think when you put those three categroies together, based on performance they rank: international stocks, U.S. stocks, U.S. bonds."–Ryan G. Murphy