Debt, Aristotle, and the Fed: A Virtuous Vice?
There is little doubt that the accommodative/expansionary monetary policy of the last 10+ years has been chasing investors and funds out the risk curve but also down the quality ladder. The voracious issuance of corporate debt has been encouraged by a dovish Fed,...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action Global equities were stronger on the week while the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note dropped two basis points to 1.57%. The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased to $52.00 from $50.65 last week. Volatility, as...
A Whole New World for Brands
“So your advantage of scale can be an informational advantage. If I go to some remote place, I may see Wrigley chewing gum alongside Glotz’s chewing gum. Well, I know that Wrigley is a satisfactory product, whereas I don’t know anything about Glotz’s. So if one is 40...
Weekly Market Update – February 8, 2020
Market Action Global equities improved on the week as fears of a coronavirus pandemic that would cripple economic growth began to subside. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note rebounded to 1.59% from 1.53%. However, the price of a barrel of West Texas...
Growth-Value Divergence and Other Obscurities
The coronavirus has been credited with causing recent market volatility. In a single day last week, the gains made in January were wiped out, while this week the market gains erased all of last week losses. Could it be that the market is searching for direction and...
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 An airstrike launched by the US government in Iraq killed top Iranian general Qassem...
Weekly Market Update – February 1, 2020
Market Action Global equities struggled this week as worries over the coronavirus spread faster than the virus itself. Anxiety about the outbreak caused the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note to fall 17 basis points to 1.53%, as the yield curve flattened....
Global Trade, PMIs, Transformation, and Market Implications: When Lincoln Read Whitman’s Poetry
The latest figures on global trade portray a picture of contraction. Have we entered into a period of deglobalization? The figures tell us a story of the longest period of contraction since the crisis more than ten years ago. Six consecutive months of year-on-year...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action Global equities saw little change this week while the opposite can be said for the yield on the US 10-year Treasury note. Investor concern over the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak which could inhibit global growth sent the yield on the US...
More Important than Valuation: Understanding the Value of Return on Invested Capital
By Joel N. Charalambakis "In the long term, it's hard for a stock to earn a much better return than the business which underlies it earns. If the business earns six percent on capital over forty years and you hold it for that forty years, you're not going to...
