< The 2014 All-America Research TeamBenjamin Bowler, Nitin Saksena & teamBank of America Merrill LynchFirst-place appearances: 9
Total appearances: 30
Team debut: 1993Recording its best showing since 2008, Bank of America Merrill Lynch rises from third place to No. 2. San Francisco–based Benjamin Bowler now co-leads the six-strong troupe with newcomer Nitin Saksena in New York, and they confer with seven colleagues internationally. The team provides outstanding niche market information, investors insist. “Their research is very specific to what we’re doing with convertibles: information on what transpired on the previous day, and what looks attractive and what’s rich,” offers one fund manager. “Without their research I’d be in a lot of trouble — there are not a lot of shops doing that anymore.” The BofA Merrill strategists recently reiterated their year-long view that volatility will remain depressed even after the world’s central banks withdraw global liquidity. A “crowded credit market” will pose “short-term shocks to volatility,” says Bowler, but “volatility shocks will fade until well after interest rates begin to rise, [which should] reduce the attractiveness of selling volatility for yield.” Moreover, interest rates and foreign exchange volatility “should be a leading indicator to a risk-off event in the current environment,” he notes. The analysts are recommending emerging-markets equity, foreign exchange and commodities puts as “among the most efficient hedges to a global market sell-off,” advises Bowler.