Income-hungry investors continued to push yields on speculative grade bonds to new lows despite the challenging business conditions this year. The yield on the Bloomberg Barclays Corporate High Yield...
The month of November saw a sharp rotation into value equities at the expense of technology and communication services companies, causing investors to wonder whether the long-run dominance of growth...
It may come as a surprise to many that average disposable personal incomes have increased by 6.6 percent from February prior to the pandemic through August. This is down from a high of 9.8 percent in...
Few people would have predicted that U.S. equity markets would be higher today than at the start of 2020 if told that a virus would infect over 7.0 million people in the U.S., cause over 200,000...
Chairman Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole during the last week of August confirmed the Fed’s dovish policy stance, giving investors ample support in terms of low rates and a flexible inflation...
When investors open their second quarter investment reports, many will be shocked by the magnitude of stock market gains in the second quarter. Their surprise could be voiced by a rhetorical question...
We continue to monitor the level of social distancing as an indicator for business activity and improvement in consumer sentiment. Personal spending experienced the largest month-over-month drop on...
The Federal Reserve is determined to support the economy and the normal functioning of capital markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of April 29th, the total asset size of the Fed’s balance sheet...
It has been well documented that trying to avoid market downturns by selling out of stocks and moving to cash can be damaging to long-term portfolio values. And while there are strong behavioral...
Oil prices declined over 21 percent on March 9, 2020, the largest single-day decline since January 1991 during the Gulf War[1]. There was optimism prior to the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum...
World markets appeared to be returning to their upward trend in the beginning of February after a volatile start of the year. While concerns about global growth caused by the coronavirus outbreak are...
As we enter the 12th year of economic expansion since the Great Financial Crisis, investors continue to wonder whether 2020 will be the year when equity markets finally experience a correction....
U.S. equities reached an all-time high at the end of October as downside fears abated and risk-on sentiment improved. Among the positives, successful completion of “phase one” of the U.S. – China...
An obscure but very large part of the financial markets caused a stir in late September. Lending rates spiked in the repurchase (repo) markets as institutions sought short-term liquidity. The rate...
Lately, there has been quite a bit of hand-wringing by the financial media about the yield curve inversion. It seems that many prognosticators believe that an inversion is a clear market signal that...
The valuation premium (forward price/earnings) of defensive stocks versus cyclicals has climbed steadily over the last seven months. Limited risk appetite, slowing growth, low interest rates and...
The Bond markets’ expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cuts changed drastically last Friday on the news of President Trump’s intention to impose tariffs on Mexico, in an attempt to...
In March, capital markets entered their tenth year of post-crisis recovery. For diversified portfolios, these have been some of the most profitable times, characterized by strong returns, positive...
Chart of the Month | Beware of High Yield Bonds