Portfolio Manager Spotlight: Federated Investment Management

In the past three months, we’ve seen bond markets struggle against a backdrop of rising rates and geopolitical tensions. Here’s how Azzad’s fixed-income portfolio manager, Federated Investment Management Company, handles the challenge. In the second quarter of 2018, many bond funds struggled as rates increased. The Federal Reserve raised rates two times in the first half of 2018 and signaled two further hikes to come this year. All of this comes as inflation reached the Fed’s target rate faster than previously forecast and unemployment continued to fall. Given this backdrop of rising rates and geopolitical tensions, many bond funds lost ground over the second quarter, though funds boasting shorter durations and U.S. dollar exposure proved to be the exception to this rule. Not so for the Azzad Wise Capital Fund (ticker: WISEX), which eked out a positive return in a challenging quarter. WISEX is managed by Federated Investment Management Company, a subsidiary of Federated Investors, Inc. Founded in 1955 and based in Pittsburgh, Penn., Federated is widely considered to be a pillar in the money management universe, with $255 billion in assets under management at the end of 2017. Federated took over managing WISEX in 2014. Under its watchful eye,