Jian Huang
Morgan Stanley, Research Division

All right. Good afternoon, everybody. We're here with John McCallion, the CFO of MetLife. John, really appreciate your time. It's always great to chat about MetLife.

John McCallion
Executive VP, CFO & Head of Investment Management

Yes. Great. Great to be here. Thanks.

Jian Huang
Morgan Stanley, Research Division

So maybe let's start with just the overall broader environment kind of just the level set, right? So today, obviously, data points have been uncertain and it varies depending on jurisdiction. And you're in various parts of the world.

So what do you think would be MetLife's key advantage or competitive advantage here? And where are you most constructive versus where are you most mindful of risk, so to speak?

John McCallion
Executive VP, CFO & Head of Investment Management

Yes, sure. And like I said, thanks for having us. It's good to see you again.

Let me start with maybe the macro backdrop. I think a few things are important as you think about the environment. One is unemployment remains low, right? Two, inflation seems -- I know we had some new data out today, but generally speaking, manageable and then wage growth seems to be keeping up.

I think the third thing that we would highlight that's maybe a little more specific is real estate cycle is coming through. Maybe it's on the back end and on the uptick. So you see that kind of improving, although it seems to be more of a U-shaped recovery than a V-shape.

And then maybe