Author: John E. Charalambakis

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: October 19, 2017 |

Financial Stability and Business Cycle: Cicero on Risk Migration, Exogenous Shocks, and the Twin Engines

Resilient and liquid financial markets are essential to keeping the global economy going. A decade ago payments systems and capital markets seized up almost everywhere and a year later the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: October 12, 2017 |

Growth Forecasts and Policy Uncertainty: Implications for Portfolio Adjustments

A few days ago the IMF published its annual forecasts for developed and emerging economies. Five things are worth pointing out: First, when we review forecasts made for previous years […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: October 5, 2017 |

Market Valuations and Devolution: Mythos, Madness, or an Allegory?

Over the course of the last few days, some important pieces were published on the valuation of equities and bonds. At the same time we observed independent referendums taking place […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: September 21, 2017 |

Why Have We Been Switching the Headlines? War Games and the US Dollar

Throughout the ages, war has been the engine of finance. The collusion between Russia and China in the last few weeks and months in order to bypass the US dollar […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: September 14, 2017 |

Chinese Slowdown: Potential Ramifications for Asset Allocation

The latest data from Chinese economic activity came in below expectations and point to a possible further slowdown for the next year. Specifically, infrastructure spending dropped and this weighed down […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: September 6, 2017 |

Echoes of War: Undisciplined Policies in the Context of Historical Developments

Our world has been cycling between chaos and order since the beginning of the modern economic era. We define the modern economic era as the period that started with the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: September 1, 2017 |

Jackson Hole and the 10th Anniversary from the Financial Crisis: QExit and Prospects

The central bankers’ conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming ended last week, and with it several questions arose as we reached the 10th anniversary of the financial crisis started showing its […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: August 23, 2017 |

The Ataraxia (Tranquility) of the Market and Its Breath: Stoic, Epicurean, or Sceptic?

It has been well-recorded that the equity market’s volatility is pretty low by historical standards as the following 10-year graph shows. This kind of ataraxia (tranquility) may be the equivalent […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: August 17, 2017 |

Corporate Earnings, Equities Trajectory, and Risks: Considering the Purchase of Cheap Insurance

Over the course of the past several months we have reiterated the point that good growth earnings provide market justification for further rises in the equities market. We continue supporting […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: August 10, 2017 |

Commodities, Volatility, and Cryptocurrencies: Some Initial Thoughts

Commodity prices usually follow long cycles. As the graph below shows, commodities enjoyed a good run from the early 1990s to the dawn of the financial crisis and recovered pretty […]