The term “animal spirits” is a way to describe what drives human behavior to consume, take risk and engage the instinctual proclivities that are natural to economic living.
Over the 12 months to mid-2016, global equities witnessed abnormal volatility driven by both macro and micro concerns. This reflected a more complex investment setting.
In the context of investing, the term 'sustainability' lacks sharply defined boundaries. This broad label tends to create more confusion than clarity, prompting some advisors to simply skip it and move on.
Companies in the consumer-related sectors and information technology are particularly attractive to us in the current environment, especially as technology is becoming more integral and competitive in emerging markets.
U.S. equities retreated last week, with the S&P 500 Index declining 1.0%.1 Sentiment was dragged down by negative earnings updates, a disappointing trade report from China and rising U.S. political turmoil.
Two weekend articles, in major US newspapers, left us shaking our heads. The Washington Post wrote that "economic growth actually kills people," while The Wall Street Journal published a piece saying, ironically, we should get used to slow growth - it's normal.
U.S. equity indexes have made little headway over the past few months, but flat is relatively impressive given the obstacles of Fed and election uncertainty, some softer economic data, downgrades in earnings, and valuation concerns.
Despite underperforming recently, high yielding defensive stocks are still expensive. Russ sees better value elsewhere, namely technology.
Over the last month the markets have oscillated violently within a narrow range as they digest.
Those of us in the estate planning industry often have the unique role of helping our clients decide who will handle their affairs when they become incapacitated or pass away. Choosing a successor trustee is an emotional and difficult decision for the client, but those of us assisting them sometimes do not take it seriously enough.
Here’s why I highly recommend LinkedIn to be the first social media account you use.
There are a lot of economic negatives to worry about these days. Slow growth, annual GDP rising at only 2.1% on average since the '08 recession. Stagnation. Low inflation. Burgeoning government debt relative to GDP. One third of global government bonds at negative yields (and a few corporate bonds now too). Corporate earnings per share declining for 6 consecutive quarters, even after historically high share buybacks. High share prices from relatively high earnings multiples—the S&P 500 at 17x forward earnings. Falling worker productivity for the third consecutive quarter. Flat retail sales, likely as a result of an over indebted consumer. High inventories relative to sales. The U.S. government putting the kibosh on several potential deals. Corporate insider buying at only one third of their selling—a poor ratio. General uncertainty, much stemming from an election year with two controversial candidates espousing controversial policies.
Just as April showers bring May flowers, plentiful monsoon rains in India tend to drive up demand for gold jewelry among rural, income-flush farmers, who make up a third of the country’s consumption of the yellow metal. It’s a relief to hear, then, that India just had its best monsoon season in three years, with heavy rains washing away people’s fears of yet another drought.
What’s driving developing country stocks? What’s needed to support their current valuation multiples?
Investing in great companies sits at the core of my investment philosophy. In this regard, I reject the idea that I invest in the stock market. To me, the stock market is simply the store I shop in to purchase interests in fine businesses.
While heartened by the bounce in oil prices after the multi-decade lows reached early in the year, any significant further rally in energy prices would seem to us to require a far more vibrant global economy. As the IMF’s (and the Fed’s) relatively subdued outlooks make clear, it is hard to anticipate such a scenario occurring anytime soon.
The S&P 1500 capped its fourth consecutive quarter of positive returns (and its 26th out of the last 30), as volatility reverted back up, closer to historical levels.
The SEC’s sweeping changes will likely make money market funds less risky – but far less attractive – to participants in defined contribution plans.
Over a weekend when I thought, “there are no words…” so often, this report will have few words, but a lot of charts and tables. Speaking of the election, it’s been remarkable that, given the ample deficits of both presidential candidates, rarely do either discuss the country’s deficits or debt.
As a young Army paratrooper, much of my training was focused on learning to operate under chaotic circumstances. The battlefield is nothing if not chaotic, especially in the pitch black of night, which is how we often trained.
Today, let’s take a look at the most recent market valuations. Hint and not a surprise: both stocks and bonds remain expensively priced. Value? Not today. Especially in the bond market.
Building a reliable network of COIs is one of the surest ways to engage with new prospects and grow your practice. Here’s a step-by-stop process to expand your list of COIs – including some who you probably didn’t think were potential referral sources.
When comparing strategies for coordinating home equity with portfolio distributions to generate retirement income, the tenure option fairs well. As a way to fund retirement efficiency improvements, using the tenure payment option from the line of credit as an alternative to purchasing a SPIA or DIA is worth exploring further.
Here are the 10 things you need to do in order to effectively use social media.
There’s no other way to say it: Gold had a bad week. On Tuesday alone, the yellow metal fell more than 3 percent, shuffling off $43, in its biggest one-day loss in three years. It broke below the psychologically important $1,300 mark and touched the 200-day moving average before rising again today.
Currently economists and market watchers roughly fall into two camps: Those who believe that the Federal Reserve must begin raising interest rates now so that it will have enough rate cutting firepower to fight the next...
With all that is happening in the world – the U.S. election, the Brexit vote, various terrorist incidents, speculation about will she or won’t she raise rates at the Fed and other concerns – oil seems to have been pushed down the priority scale of market-influencing issues.
It was a profitable period for well-diversified multi-asset strategic investors in global equity markets.
Every financial bubble rests on the presumption that there is still some greater fool available to purchase overvalued assets, no matter how overvalued they might become. In the recent half cycle, central banks have intentionally extended this speculation by promising that they, themselves, could be relied upon to be those greater fools.
The end of U.S. dollar dominance may be unfolding in front of our eyes. No, we don't think China's ascent is the key threat; instead, key to understanding the U.S. dollar may be to understand the money market fund you might hold.
October could see a ramping up of volatility across all asset markets. The month is notorious on Wall Street for the 1987 stock market crash. Fall crashes also occurred in 2002 and 2008.
