Bill O'Grady

Bill O’Grady is Executive Vice President and Chief Market Strategist for Confluence Investment Management, a St. Louis-based investment management firm. Mr. O’Grady joined Confluence in November 2008, where he performs market, economic, and geopolitical research and is actively involved in portfolio management activities. Bill currently co-manages Confluence’s Global Macro portfolio, an ETF-based alternative asset strategy, as well as the Global Hard Assets portfolio, which focuses on tangible commodities investments. These strategies rely on his topdown evaluations of the geopolitical environment, fundamental macroeconomic trends, and technical patterns in the target markets. Additionally, Bill writes a daily commentary and weekly geopolitical report, providing insights on these topics and discussing market effects. Previously, Bill served as Vice President and Chief Investment Strategist for Wachovia Securities. As Chief Investment Strategist, Bill provided short-term asset allocation advice for Wachovia's Advisory Services Group. In addition, Bill managed Wachovia's Global Macro Asset Allocation program, an ETF-based alternative asset program. Prior to this, Bill served in a variety of positions in his 19-year tenure at A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. including Chief Global Investment Strategist, Assistant Director of Market Analysis, and Manager of Futures Research. Bill also served as a member of the A.G. Edwards Investment Strategy Committee. Prior to joining A.G. Edwards, Bill was the international economic and administrative officer of Mercantile Bank in St. Louis, developing country risk analyses for international lending activities.

In all, Bill has more than 20 years of experience following the energy, foreign exchange, and futures markets. Bill is known for his geopolitical commentary along with his energy and currency background and is frequently quoted by such national media outlets as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, CNBC, CBS News, Dow Jones News Service, and Investor's Business Daily.

Bill earned a Master's degree in Economics from St. Louis University and has undergraduate degrees in both History and Public Administration from Avila College.