Policy Rx for Recession Aggravates Income Inequality
T’was the week before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was spending, not even your spouse; the stockings were hung by the chimney with flairs, in hopes that the Congress would supplement CARES. And so, it appears that the economy continues to deteriorate as the Congress attempts to put together another stimulus […]
The Recovery Stalls; Fed Pledges “Lower for Longer;” Equity Markets Pause
With the Fed pledging to keep rates low even when (or if) inflation rises above its 2% target, it is hard to see why long-term Treasury yields (and those of other quality issuers) won’t move toward yields of similar debt in the world’s other industrial economies (i.e., Europe and Japan). The economic lull is now […]
On Gazing Into The Abyss
The six large cap stocks (FB, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, NFLX, and MSFT), which now compose 22% of the S&P 500 (vs. 10% five years ago) are, amazingly, up about 4% YTD as of Friday April 17. The S&P 500, itself, closed Friday, down only -11% YTD (and only -15% below its all-time peak), even in the […]
Investor Prospects For 2020 And The Wall Street Casino
This is the time of year when I am supposed to make predictions for markets for 2020, or, at least give an outlook. This has become quite difficult to do in recent times as markets no longer appear to be driven by corporate fundamentals or macroeconomics. Rather, markets have been moved by: 1) passive investment flows; 2) […]
Buybacks: The New Magic Beans
Synopsis: Stock buybacks increase corporate leverage. Investors err if they apply the old P/E ratio to the new, now higher EPS, which is solely due to the reduction of outstanding shares. Because leverage has increased, the P/E ratio should fall, as the company is now riskier. Theoretically, via the academic discipline of corporate finance, and […]
2018: A Pivotal Year
Since my last blog, even more volatility has been present in the marketplace (both equities and debt spurred by the narrative that whatever tax legislation was passed by Congress would greatly benefit the economy and especially U.S. corporate profits. In the two weeks running up to the passage of the Senate’s version of the tax […]