Commentaries

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 14, 2022 |

Canceling the Noise; Not by Bread Alone

Introduction: Given the market volatility, we will start posting, on an ad hoc basis, a very short commentary whose purpose would be twofold: First, to cancel out the loud noises in […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: February 1, 2022 |

Put(in)s and Calls and Getting Ambushed by the Future: A Machiavellian Win-Win Strategy in the Midst of Market and Geopolitical Turmoil

In two of our January commentaries, we discussed some fundamental reasons that make us skeptical of a continuous market upswing, as well as some reasons that make us consider a continuous selloff as […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 25, 2022 |

Market Gyrations: Underlying Causes and Spillover Effects

Yesterday’s market moves could be well-characterized by one word: Wild. By early afternoon, all major indexes were approaching correction territory, trending down more than 10% from their recent highs. At […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: January 10, 2022 |

Investment Landscape 2022: Market Epicureans vs. Market Stoics

Strato of Lampsacus stepped out of the boat that had just docked at the Alexandria, Egypt port. At that moment, he knew that this was the right place for the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 28, 2021 |

Contemplating an Allegory on Money, Markets, Worldviews, and the Principle of Li: A Conversation Among Joseph Schumpeter, Hermas, Pieter Bruegel, and James Maxwell

As I was approaching the gate at the Colorado airport for the flight to Sao Paolo, I was curious to see who my co-travelers would be this year. When the […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: December 7, 2021 |

Thinking about the Markets’ Paedagogus: Maxwell’s Demon and Hermas Contemplate the 2022 Trajectory

Over the weekend, I received my invitation for the legendary end-of-year flight where I am privileged to listen to dialogues of well-known persons. The subliminal message in this year’s invitation […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 30, 2021 |

Economic & Market Outlook 2022: Part I

John Charalambakis, Mohamed Ramzi Roshdi, & Nicolas Abdelhak Thucydides taught us that the past shapes the future, but the latter has a tendency to depart from the former with a […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: November 9, 2021 |

Portfolio Navigation Before Year’s End: Reflections from Augustus and Faust, Part II

Over the course of the last few days, a good chunk of the economic analysis has been focusing on the breakeven inflation rate, a.k.a. the investors’ sentiment and inflationary expectations […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: October 26, 2021 |

From Navigation to Cultivation: Portfolios in the Light of Augustus and Faust, Part I

In the distance, Faust saw something like a flickering orange light. “There must be a fire, out there” he thought, and suddenly Mephistopheles appeared, by stating the obvious: “Yes, of […]

By: John E. Charalambakis | On: October 19, 2021 |

Contemplating Technological Evolutions

By: Nicolas Abdelhak, Mohamed Ramzi, John Charalambakis “The only thing that is constant is change” – Heraclitus What is that common theme in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and in Goethe’s Faust? […]