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Speakers
Rick Brink, CFA
Richard A. Brink is a Senior Vice President and Market Strategist in the Client Group. Previously, he served as a managing director in the Alternatives and Multi-Asset Group. Prior to that role, Brink was a senior portfolio manager in Fixed Income, and before that an investment director for fixed-income investments within the Global Retail Investments Group. Before joining AB in 2004, he was senior product manager at the Dreyfus Corporation, covering both retail and institutional fixed-income offerings. Brink was previously a senior trainer, dealing primarily with the design and delivery of product training to financial advisors and mutual fund sales representatives. He holds a BS in applied mathematics and economics from Stony Brook University, and is a CFA charterholder.
Eric Winograd
Eric Winograd is a Senior Vice President and Director of Developed Market Economic Research. He joined the firm in 2017. From 2010 to 2016, Winograd was the senior economist at MKP Capital Management, a US-based diversified alternatives manager. From 2008 to 2010, he was the senior macro strategist at HSBC North America. Earlier in his career, Winograd worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the World Bank. He holds a BA (cum laude) in Asian studies from Dartmouth College and an MA in international studies from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.
Walt Czaicki, CFA
Walt Czaicki serves as a Senior Vice President and Senior Investment Strategist for Equities at AB. He rejoined the firm in 2015 and has been in the investment-management industry since 1986. Czaicki’s roles have ranged from a fundamental equity research analyst and portfolio manager to chief investment officer. Prior to rejoining AB, he worked on the buy side for a Regions Financial predecessor organization, as well as at Commerce Trust Company and Bank of America. Czaicki holds a BSBA in finance and an MBA, both from Saint Louis University. He is a CFA charterholder.
Scott DiMaggio, CFA
Scott DiMaggio, Senior Vice President, is Co-Head of Fixed Income, Director of Global Fixed Income, Canada Fixed Income and US Multi-Sector Fixed Income strategies, as well as their associated investment strategy, activities and portfolio-management teams. Prior to joining AB’s Fixed Income portfolio-management team, he performed quantitative investment analysis, including asset-liability, asset-allocation, return attribution and risk analysis for the firm.
Daryl Clements
Daryl Clements is a Senior Vice President and a Municipal Bond Portfolio Manager on AB’s Municipal Fixed Income team, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm’s various separately managed accounts (SMA) and mutual fund assets. He joined AB in 2002 as a municipal credit research analyst, responsible for evaluating municipal issuers nationwide, with a particular focus on the transportation, public power and tobacco-backed bonds sectors. In 2006, Clements was promoted to the portfolio-management team and became a member of the Tax-Exempt Fixed Income Investment Policy Group. Since that time, municipal assets under management have increased from US$22 billion to nearly US$80 billion. Within that growth, Clements spent considerable time expanding and broadening the team’s SMA business. Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate director and municipal credit analyst for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company for six years and a municipal research associate for five years before that with Moody’s Investors Service. Clements holds a BS in business, management and finance from Brooklyn College and an MBA in finance from Pace University. In 2008, he co-authored the “How to Analyze Airport Revenue Bonds” chapter in The Handbook of Municipal Bonds.
The first half of 2025 was defined by a stop-and-go policy environment, sparking heightened uncertainty and sharp swings in market sentiment — from hope to fear, and back again. Yet through these extreme shifts, the macroeconomic backdrop has remained relatively stable.
This disconnect between policy uncertainty and economic stability has enabled a rebound in investor sentiment, with the pendulum swinging back to exuberance nearly as fast as it swung in the opposite direction. We’re not surprised by this resilience, but we believe it’s too soon to say we’re out of the woods. Markets will likely stay unsettled into the second half of the year, especially as the potential negative effects of uneven fiscal policy come into sharper focus.
Even though we expect more variables to start flashing yellow going forward, the US economy and Fed are in a relatively strong position at this point. In an environment where market “mania” has quickly taken hold — in each direction — context and discipline will be essential for investors.
Reserve your spot now for AB’s Capital Markets Outlook webcast on Thursday, July 10, where AB’s strategists and investment experts will explore:
- The State of the “Trinity”: All eyes remain fixed on inflation, growth and labor—and their net effect on interest rates. Though these three variables have not reflected the impact of fiscal policy so far, we expect that to change over the coming months.
- Magnificent Seven vs. the Others: Equity returns have continued to broaden, but questions remain around how long this trend will last. When volatility reigns, selectivity becomes crucial, particularly given the frothy valuations and high concentration levels of market indices.
- Bonds and the Bumpy Road to Normalization: Although the focus has largely shifted from the Fed to the White House, the rate discussion should retake center stage as policy effects become clearer. Markets may be grappling with the “right” start date for rate cuts, but the pace of cuts and terminal rate demand more focus.
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