Commentaries

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: April 20, 2017 |

Assessing Possible High Impact Outcomes: From Egypt to France, and from London to D.C.

As we go down the road where the improbable becomes probable and the non-tradable becomes tradable, we discuss below four possible outcomes that could alter the investment landscape. Those four […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: April 11, 2017 |

Complacency in the Midst of Market Cycles: Liquidity Pressures and Geopolitics

Money markets experienced some kind of distortion in the last 18-24 months due to global dollar shortages as the Fed got into the swing of “normalizing” rates. Money markets several […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: April 4, 2017 |

Global Market Resilience: Noise, Global Trade, and Policy Directives

In the last couple of weeks a reality seems to be settling in the minds of over-optimistic investors. That reality says that it would not be so easy to enact […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: March 29, 2017 |

The Zadig & Micromega Perspective: Global Demand, Servicing the Debt, and Economic Developments

“Zadig” a.k.a. “Destiny: An Oriental Story” and “Micromegas” were two of Voltaire’s philosophical tales dated back in the middle of the 18th century. In the former Voltaire explores the reason’s […]

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

Market Valuations and Reflationary Expectations: What Can we Learn from a London Art Exhibition?

A recent investors’ survey done by Bank of America Merrill Lynch found that more and more investors believe that stocks are overvalued. Expectations about earnings, taxes, spending, and regulatory regime, […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: March 15, 2017 |

From Convergence to Divergence: Emerging Markets in Expectation of Higher Rates

Over the course of the last few months, we observe that not only developed markets have been enjoying good returns, but also emerging markets rise along with them. As the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: March 9, 2017 |

Reflation Trades and Upbeat Sentiment: Rates, Oil, and the Containment of Risks

It seems that analysts around the world are singing from the same chorus book, called Reflation. If we could define the latter we would say that it refers to a […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: March 2, 2017 |

Has the Unleashing of Animal Spirits Time Arrived? A Little Caution due to the Doom Loop

A year ago equity and commodity markets were in a panic mode. Chinese tremors, fears of deflation, oil prices below $30 a barrel, declining commodity prices (such as copper), and […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 22, 2017 |

U.S. Economic Developments Meet European Politics: Upswing Targets Convergence

The equities market continues its upswing trend and as its tide rises, other equity markets around the world follow it too, given that expectations and economic fundamentals in other places […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 16, 2017 |

The Enigma of a Divergence: The Uncertainty Index vs. the Volatility Index

In last week’s commentary we wrote that the earnings, production, and income pictures look good and that the market has legs to make further earnings. The market continued in its […]