2015 All-America Research Team: Washington Research, No. 1: Andrew Laperriere, Roberto Perli & team

Andrew Laperriere,
Roberto Perli
& team

Cornerstone Macro

First-Place Appearances: 3

Total Appearances: 3

Team Debut: 2013

Cornerstone Macro’s three-strong group overseen byAndrew Laperriere, 47, and 48-year-oldRoberto Perlisecures first place for a third consecutive year. Working out of Washington, the researchers are hailed as topnotch Federal Reserve watchers. Indeed, so strong is their reputation that one buy-side fan declares, “They’re great — the only Washington team we pay attention to.” Regarding the Fed’s potential policy moves, the squad projects that the board “will probably raise rates toward the end of 2015,” Perli says. “The exact liftoff date is much less important than the pace of tightening after liftoff. The Fed is likely to proceed very slowly, slower in fact than at any other point in recent memory.” Cornerstone’s researchers are also forecasting that the central bank will “stop tightening much sooner than normal,” he advises. “All this suggests that the Fed will not be a threat to equity investors and will be only a modest threat to bond investors.” On the spending front, they anticipate that the federal government will arrive at “a minimalist budget agreement” that keeps spending levels — including for defense — relatively flat, as well as a deal to maintain current funding allocations for highways, Perli reports. They do not, however, foresee passage of “a repatriation holiday or other big tax change that would benefit multinationals, particularly technology and health care companies with profits trapped overseas.” The team’s bottom line? Don’t expect Congress to do too much in 2016, he says, “as the debate in Washington will be largely driven by the presidential campaigns.”