In chapter 19 of the Odyssey, Homer writes about Penelope’s encounter with a mysterious guest. “Falsehoods all, but he gave his falsehoods all the ring of truth. As she listened […]

The flowering of the Enlightenment across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries took place when a diverse group of thinkers questioned perceived opinion. The names of Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, […]

The markets have been used to central banks actions that mitigate downturns (the famous/infamous puts that take the names of central bankers such as the Greenspan and Bernanke puts). Such […]

The external debt of developing economies has more than tripled in the last ten years. Brazil of all countries is selling notes to yield-hungry investors that mature in 2047! Where […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]