The NAVigator

John Cole Scott, President of Closed-End Fund Advisors — the Chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — answers listener questions about whether premiums and returns of capital are as bad for investors as they are often cracked up to be, on whether interval funds are worth the illiquidity risk and if the reasons why individuals buy closed-end funds means they are better used as short-term investment tools. Plus, our host asks a question that came up for him as he watched the AICA chairman on the stage at the group's recent Business Development Company Forum in New York.

Bob Marcotte, President at Gladstone Capital Corp., says that government policies which encourage business investment and capital expenditures are creating outstanding conditions for the private credit market. In an interview at the Active Investment Company Alliance BDC Forum in New York City, Marcotte said that Gladstone is "very bullish" on the likely capital-expenditure cycle being spurred by tariff and near-shoring policies, but the veteran money manager also noted that BDCs have never been more competitive with the public markets, thans to rapid expansion in recent years, moving the industry to a point where "there's so much money in the private market today that it's almost as liquid as it would be if it were in the broadly syndicated market."

Mitchel Penn, Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. — interviewed at the Active Investment Company Alliance BDC Forum in New York on Wednesday — says that credit losses for business development companies during the first quarter of 2025 were more than double the level they have been at for the last few years. Penn says some of that increase could be attributed to the market's reaction to government policies, but that it also could be that interest rates have stayed higher for so long now that they are starting to create credit-quality issues. He said BDCs can still deliver returns in the range of 9% moving forward, though he warned that an increasing number of business-development companies may struggle to earn their dividends, making it particularly important for investors to check under the hood to make sure the yield is real and not goosed by return of capital.

Tonnie Wybensinger, Head of Government Relations for the Small Business Investors Association — interviewed at the AICA BDC Forum in New York on June 11 — discusses the role that lobbyists play in the legislative process and how current efforts to improve the tax treatment of business-development companies, as well as to level the playing field with mutual funds when calculating expense ratios for fund-of-funds. Those efforts — which have been ongoing for years — could soon be coming to a head, with the BDC tax-parity legislation included in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" currently winding through Congress.

Michael Grant, Co-Chief Investment Officer at Calamos Investments — Co-Manager of the Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust — says that current market conditions have made it that bonds are no longer a natural working hedge for equities downturns, and the downside risk in terms of capital return can be greater in the bond market than in stocks. He notes that investors are over-exposed to Magnificent Seven and the biggest of the large-cap stocks — noting that the typical client has about 40 percent of their equity assets there — and they need to diversify away from those positions to be less market-sensitive. He worries that turning to bonds in an inflationary environment will create portfolio pain, so he's looking to non-correlated assets to ride out the rate cycle, tariff problems and more.

John Cole Scott, president of Closed-End Fund Advisors — the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — discusses two mainstream media articles that purported to name "the best closed-end funds" and that were published right around the times when he appeared on The NAVigator and gave out his own investment suggestions; he digs into the data to compare how all of the suggestions turned out and see how one-size-fits-all advice actually suits individual investors. It's a lesson in evaluating funds, but also on sizing up the sources of investment recommendations.

Brian Griggs, head of portfolio strategy and solutions at Nuveen, says that investors have long had too much dependence on large-cap domestic stocks and an over-reliance on duration in fixed-income allocations, and he says that investors should address those pain points today to address macro-sensitivity caused by today's headlines. Using Nuveen's Nsights anaytical tool — a proprietary system that examines how portfolio changes impact future portfolio performance — Griggs says that investors want to address their portfolio problems now, including holding too much cash, to make portfolios better prepared to ride out the bumpy times ahead.

Mark Gatto, co-founder and co-chief executive officer at CION Investment Group, says that private investments have been weathering current storms better than public companies because illiquidity translates to stability in times when the market is volatile. Gatto says these markets have highlighted what private investments do well, which should boost their attractiveness moving forward, with heightened demand leading to better pricing as more investors see how well the private sector's valuations have held up while the stock market dropped into bear market territory and then rebounded.

Andrew Kohl, a Portfolio Manager with Aberdeen Investments — part of the team running the firm's Total Dynamic Dividend and Global Dynamic Dividend funds — says dividend-paying stocks are not immune from tariff concerns, and while investors often pick them for the income and don't want to make too many changes, it's important to to watch how the underlying business will be impacted by current conditions. Kohl says his portfolios have tilted toward international investments this year, noting that foreign markets have outperformed the U.S. since "Liberation Day." He also discusses two of his favorite dividend stocks, offers a guess as to why one of the funds has seen its discount narrow while the other has not, and more.

Danielle Poli, Portfolio Manager at Oaktree Capital Management, says the credit market is delivering returns that are close to the historic gains for equities, noting that the current set-up is reminiscent of times in the early 2000s when credit "smoked" equities. With high-yield bonds earning around 8 percent and private credit showing significant demand, Poli says that credit can be more than just "a great place to hide out," amid rocky conditions and uncertainty surrounding the stock and bond markets. In talking with corporate executives, Poli says she has come to expect a slower economic environment, with the potential for higher inflation from tariffs, creating the kind of environment where "you're going to want to be in credit over equities."