The year 2022 will certainly be remembered as momentous, and it may take some time to fully understand the ramifications of the events that occurred this year. Thankfully, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic finally began to attenuate, although the virus has not completely disappeared. For the first time in decades, Europe had an active military conflict, and, at the time of writing, it is still unclear how that situation will be resolved. Energy prices, due to both the conflict and ensuing policy decisions, increased significantly. On the macroeconomic front, inflation returned with a vengeance and reached levels not seen in 40 years. As a result, for the first time in many investment professionals’ careers, we are seeing a significant increase in interest rates.
Any of these events individually would likely have had a profound impact on markets, both public and private. However, in combination, these events, along with other relevant factors, have certainly pulled the rug out from under markets. In our private markets outlook for 2023, we discuss how these significant events are affecting various private market segments and what we expect their ramifications to be in 2023.