by John E. Charalambakis | Aug 18, 2016 | Commentaries
In last week’s commentary we pointed out that the accumulation of debt by corporations may be behind the market upswing (through shares buyback programs while the fundamentals do not support such uptrend). The fact that yields on sovereign and corporate bonds have...
by John E. Charalambakis | Aug 12, 2016 | Commentaries
Corporate debt is at record high. Net equity issuance has been negative for the last few years. The shares buyback pattern is simply staggering. The fact that almost 70% of corporate earnings are paid out in the form of corporate buybacks and dividends is antithetical...
by John E. Charalambakis | Aug 4, 2016 | Commentaries
The extraordinary global increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio requires a growth rate of at least 4% in order for the debt to be sustainable. The unfortunate thing is that such growth rate looks unrealistic given today’s economic fundamentals. Moreover, the earnings...
by John E. Charalambakis | Jul 20, 2016 | Commentaries
Somewhere in the middle of the Pacific last weekend over dinner with Bob Zimmerman the lyrics of his song “A Series of Dreams” echoed in my ears. The attempted coup in Turkey was falling apart in the midst of geopolitical uncertainties from Asia (and the pertinent...
by John E. Charalambakis | Jul 14, 2016 | Commentaries
It seems that the bond and equities markets are telling us two different stories. The former with the declining – and in some major cases negative – yields is like foretelling a story of slow growth, rising risks, and absence of a capital spending drive. The latter...
by John E. Charalambakis | Jul 7, 2016 | Commentaries
It is the argument of this commentary that following the Brexit vote we may be entering into a period of regime uncertainty. By the latter we mean political, economic, and financial regimes. This could turn out to be a déjà vu watershed period for the global economy...