Commentaries

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 […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 8, 2017 |

Corporate Earnings, Production, and Hourly Wages: No Enigma to Decipher

More than 65% of companies that have reported earnings in the last few days have beaten estimates, which is a little bit higher than the long-term average. So and as […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 1, 2017 |

Worldviews, Solipsism, and Chissiaran: A Random Walk Down the Boulevard of Invincibility

Collective hallucinations are dangerous. Undershooting carries risks, but overshooting could have much more serious consequences. Ignoring history is detrimental. Hubris backfires and lack of foresight demonstrates foolishness. My fear is […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 25, 2017 |

New Market Highs and Underperformers: Fundamentals Meet Technical Charts

The market celebrated a Dow Jones Industrial Average that reached 20,000 yesterday. Is this too much of good news? Is it sustainable and could it be that investors are carried […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 19, 2017 |

Shifting Regimes and Changing Winds: Reflections on Trade and Market Implications at the Dawn of a New Era

One of the main issues debated at the Davos conference this week is the possibility of a new trade regime, as President Trump takes office. Discontent with globalization and the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 12, 2017 |

Investment Outlook 2017: Part II

In last week’s commentary we covered mainly the initial outlook for equities. In today’s post we would like to present an initial outlook for other markets such as bonds, commodities, […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 3, 2017 |

An Initial Market Outlook for 2017: Part I

The only certain thing about a prognostication is that it will be wrong. Keeping that humble thought in mind, we offer our readers our initial thoughts on the markets’ trajectory […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 19, 2016 |

Meta-modernity Meets the Post-Literate World in the Era of Post-Truth: A Discussion among Cincinnatus, Empedocles, Virgil, Ibn Rushd, Hobbes, Spinoza, Canaletto, Doremus Jessup and Milton Friedman

  As I was boarding my usual end-of-the-year overseas flight I could clearly hear the arguments of a heated debate: “Do values matter and are they supposed to create the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 19, 2016 |

Mispricing Risk and Market Conditions at the Dawn of the New Year: Rules, Aleppo and the Banks of the Nile

Historically speaking credit markets serve as a reliable signal regarding global economic conditions. Tight spreads between corporate and government bonds have been indicating improving economic conditions, faster growth, higher incomes […]