Weekly Market Update
Global Market News Global equities tumble Global equities tumbled this week as the US reported weak sales data and the Federal Reserve announced it is considering tapering its bond purchases. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both decreased 0.59% and 1.11% respectively,...
Geopolitical Challenges and Statecraft
The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban this week has prompted a flurry of news and analysis of not just Afghanistan’s instability but also of the fragility of democracy in the Middle East. The US foreign policy approach to the Middle East has been criticized following...
The Two Types of Corrections
As of yesterday’s close, the S&P 500 is up 19% in 2021 with the Nasdaq up just shy of 15% and the Russell 2000 up about 11.5%. This even though underneath the surface breadth has largely weakened since February (albeit there are pockets of improvement in the last...
The Day After & the Era of Transformation
Here is our take on the articles summarized below: The pillars of the free market are under duress. One of the greatest free-market inefficiencies - environmental conservation - has brought forth the bitter fruit of its negligence, as a monumental report from the UN...
T.S. Eliot in the Land of Endless Money, Rehypothecation, and Crises: Part I
We all have heard the parallels between the Covid-19 crisis and war. Close to eighteen months after we started being concerned about the possibility of the pandemic, Cicero’s words that “endless money forms the sinews of war” come to mind. War and wasteland go...
Geopolitical Challenges and Statecraft
The articles we have featured this week touch on several unique topics which have not received much attention in the media as Covid-19 continues to dominate headlines. Water crises in Iran and the Nile River region have stirred up political tensions which threaten to...
Crossroads: At the Intersection of Geopolitics and Geoeconomics
Here is a summary of the most important events that unfolded last month, and which may affect economic, financial and geopolitical issues in the months ahead: North America US-China tensions heated up last month after the US and several allies, including the European...
Weekly Market Update
Global Market News Global equities slightly down on the week Global equities were slightly down on the week. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones both ended down 0.37% and 0.36% respectively, while the Nasdaq was a bit lower on the week, closing 1.11% down. The yield on...
The Day After & the Era of Transformation
Here is our take on the articles summarized below: The concerning spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 has many reflecting on the multitude of changes caused by both the initial thrust of the pandemic and today’s retreading of it. Foreign Policy asked 13...
Avoiding a Prato Day in the Markets: The Day Machiavelli Comprehended Aristotle’s Notion of the One, the Few, and the Many
Machiavelli stood in one of the corners of the famous square convinced that nothing fails like success. The calendar read May 23, 1498. Outside Florence’s city hall – the famous Palazzo della Signiora – a long scaffold had been built. A great throng of people had...
