Publications

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 17, 2011 |

On Hotspots and their Place in the Emerging and Frontier World: Part I, the Cases of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

We’ve mentioned on several occasions in previous newsletters and commentaries our positive growth outlook for numerous emerging economies in the near future and the growing interconnectedness among them. This isn’t […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 5, 2011 |

The Mark of Debt: Hysteresis in Municipal Bonds in the Saga of Bubbles

We have written briefly before (July 2010 commentary) on the dangers of the municipal bond market. In this commentary we make the claim that the housing sector leaves a mark of hysteresis […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 3, 2011 |

A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR INVESTORS

Yesterday we ran performance reports for our portfolios1.  Our composite return across all portfolios was 18.11%.  For comparison, our aggressive portfolio’s aggregate return was 35.95%.  Annualized, these figures would exceed […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 30, 2010 |

ΤΟ ΣΥΝΔΡΟΜΟ ΤΟΥ ΙΚΑΡΟY: ΑΝΑΖΗΤΩΝΤΑΣ ΤΗΝ ΣΥΣΑΧΘΕΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΑΙΣΥΜΝΗΤΕΙΑ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΥΓΗ ΤΟΥ 2011

Tα σημεία των καιρών υποδεικνύουν ότι οδηγούμεθα σε μία ιστορική περίοδο αλλαγών. Οι διαγραφόμενες αλλαγές αγγίζουν τον οικονομικό, πολιτικό, κοινωνικό, αλλά και διανοητικό χώρο. Ζει άραγε ο άνθρωπος μόνο με […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 22, 2010 |

On Logos, Retooling Growth, and Contagion Fears: Conventional and Non-Conventional Thoughts on the Occasion of the Days at the Dawn of 2011

On Logos, Retooling Growth, and Contagion Fears: Conventional and Non-Conventional Thoughts on the Occasion of the Days at the Dawn of 2011 A few months ago on this part of […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 20, 2010 |

The Descent of Currencies: Reflating Distressed Economies in the Post-Bubble Period

The late Kenneth Lay of Enron renamed his company from Enteron to Enron and moved the headquarters to Houston, Texas, ready to become the global trading conglomerate of energy, with […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 13, 2010 |

Illusions, Economic Reality, & Aisimnitia in Times of Uncertainty: Do we and the EU Need Chairman Volcker Back?

One of the great joys of my job is to meet old and new friends who teach and/or remind me of marvelous concepts and ideas. One such incident happened about […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 29, 2010 |

Alea Iacta Est: Has the Die been Cast on the Eurozone?

Fact 1: In the early 1990s, if it were not for Europeans and the US, Germany would have had a pretty rough and bumpy ride towards its reunification. The direct […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 10, 2010 |

Seisachtheia Meets the Markets: The Fed, the Yuan, and India

First of all, a special note of thanks to a good friend (IKM) who recently reminded me of the concept of Seisachtheia. Thus, a historical reference is needed first (please […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 8, 2010 |

The Markets in Purgatory

They did it again. They rolled the dice again in favor of $600 billion in purchases, and when we count the repurchases of other paper-instruments (e.g. mortgages and MBS), the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 2, 2010 |

Negative Yields, Inflationary Expectations, and Portfolio Allocation: In what Directions is Sisyphus Pushing the Rock?

Just a few days ago the auction for TIPS (Treasury Inflation Protection Securities) produced for the first time ever negative yields. When we take into account that TIPS’ correlation with […]