There isn’t much commentary needed here, as the prices and yields indicate everything relevant and important. I would only add that seeing August 24, October 15 and now the change (in acceleration) in December all add up to something different than the FOMC’s whatever influence. There is no monetary policy reason for the August 24 global liquidations to show up [...]
The graph below shows where to, historically, find out-performance given our likely position in the economic cycle. Some caveats of note to the generalized history shown. One is wise to consider both interest rate manipulation and behavioral factors stemming from and contributing to the extreme markets of the last 2 decades before blindly accepting this style and size equation. These factors give us reason to [...]
Oil prices plunged, junk bonds hit a 2 ½ year low, stocks took a nearly 4% hit, a junk bond fund halted withdrawals, the country’s biggest pipeline operator cut its dividend by 75% and two of the biggest mining companies in the world suspended theirs completely. It was not a good week for financial markets. And the Fed meets to hike [...]
This past week, the S&P 500 Cap-Weighted Index ((IVV)) tested and then broke strong support at the 50 and 200-day moving averages after a remarkable rebound from its crushing meltdown earlier this year. We may once again test resistance at the previous lows in the next few weeks. The S&P 500 is down 0.35% for the year. The S&P 500 Equal-Weighted index [...]
Top News Headlines Kinder Morgan, Freeport McMoran, Anglo-American cut dividends Climate deal reached in Paris. Not legally enforceable, all voluntary, no one cares. Dow, Dupont agree to merge, divest and keep Wall Street employed. Junk bond fund halts redemptions. Economic News China loosens Yuan peg to the dollar. Oil hits new lows. Jobless claims hit 5 month high. Retail sales [...]
The risk budget this month is unchanged. For the moderate risk investor, the allocation between risk assets and bonds remains at a defensive 40/60 versus the benchmark of 60/40. However, we are watching credit spreads very carefully because the BofA ML US High Yield Master II OAS is approaching 7.5%. That is a level that we think should trigger a [...]
One of the problems with GDP as a statistical Swiss-Army knife for economic considerations is its very methodology. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t good and sound reasons for that kind of construction and presentation, only that in making such choices some elements are left out; even important pieces. In this case, I refer to the double counting problem which [...]
There are times when you can distill the utterly complex into something elegantly simple. This is one of those times, as there really should be no doubt as to “what” and “why” about December so far. From repo to crashing EM’s to crude oil, the common theme is both eurodollar and Asian “dollar.” In that sense, it might be fair [...]
Given that Black Friday weekend, including Thanksgiving itself, was uninspiring, the fact that the Commerce Department’s estimates for retail sales for all of November were again among the worst shows that Black Friday actually remains a pivotal part of the holiday setup. The trend has been to dismiss the traditional Christmas buying season kickoff as if earlier discounts might have [...]
If there is a shift in the credit scheme of the junk bond bubble of late, the reduced volume in issuance would suggest why. While issuance, including high yield and leveraged loans, has been volatile the past few years it had never been so persistently beaten down as it is now. In other words, there had been “slow” periods in [...]
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