This week I had the opportunity to sit down with Marco Streng, the wunderkind bitcoin visionary behind Genesis Mining. Genesis, as many of you reading this might know, is the world’s largest cloud bitcoin mining company, with over 2 million customers worldwide. It calls Iceland home, whose cool climate and affordable green energy are ideal for mining newly minted virgin cryptocurrencies. Last year, Genesis helped connect the blockchain sector and traditional capital markets by partnering with HIVE Blockchain Technologies, the first publicly traded digital currency mining firm.

A review of bonds, domestic equities, and international equities at the four-month mark of 2018.

Call it the news of the year, perhaps even of the decade. For the first time since the Korean Peninsula was divided in 1948, leaders of the two warring nations met late last week in what had the look and feel of a jovial reconciliation between two estranged family members. Kim Jong-un of North Korea and President Moon Kae-in of South Korea made a number of important, though tentative, breakthroughs, including an agreement to denuclearize the peninsula and a pledge to revisit several infrastructure projects that would help bring some economic unity to the two Koreas.

The Cuban National Assembly recently elected Miguel Diáz-Canel as Cuba’s new president. There has been much media conversation about a generational shift in Cuba. In this report, we discuss the potential for change on the island nation, which has been communist since the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

The economic calendar is huge, including the most important monthly data and plenty of earnings reports. With a Fed meeting on the calendar and Tuesday’s decline attributed to the ten-year note touching 3%, the punditry will be asking: Will economic data drive interest rates higher?

This week, the economics team takes a look at NAFTA, past and present.

This week, we will conclude our series on globalization with a discussion of how China and Russia threaten U.S. hegemony, the potential responses and close with market ramifications.

This year, China is in the headlines because President Trump wants better trade terms. That’s important, but it’s only one piece of a much larger Chinese story that has been unfolding slowly for decades. Periodically, I check in on the latest developments. Today, we’ll see where we are, with the help of my trusted sources.

The investment case for commodities, gold and energy is more compelling than at any other time in recent memory.

After a decade of relying on investment and exports for growth, China’s effort to rebalance its economy toward consumer-led growth is well underway and should continue to build steam in 2018.

Last night the China Shanghai CSI 300 index fell a bit more than 1.6%, taking out February lows and setting a new YTD low for the index. This is important since the global equity markets have a very high correlation to Chinese stocks.

How much debt is too much? [Carl/The Northern Trust Economics team] digests the outlook for debt across countries and levels of government, recaps the most recent outlook for the U.S. fiscal situation, and contrasts China’s current ascendance with the historical example of Japan.

You’ve no doubt heard that everything’s bigger in Texas. That’s more than just a trite expression, and I’m not just saying that because Texas is home to U.S. Global Investors.

Those who own gold often argue how to best own it. I encourage anyone holding gold to assess the pros and cons of different choices of gold ownership to make an educated rather than emotional decision.

Media reports have been focusing on a “trade war” following President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on up to US$60 billion in Chinese imports, targeting technology products.

Quarterly commentary giving an overview of the markets and the importance of having and implementing a strategy when investing in the markets.

Recent economic data suggest the overall growth was at a moderate pace in the first quarter, respectable, but short of the very lofty expectations seen at the start of the quarter.

We maintain a neutral outlook for U.S. commercial real estate prices overall this year, following a 3% to 5% decline from their 2015 peak.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates the U.S. will become a net exporter of energy by as early as 2022, and the agency recently shared fresh data that supports the narrative that America is on the cusp of taking the throne as the world’s leading energy powerhouse.

Amid a rise in market volatility around the world, the fundamentals for Asia equities look fairly healthy. Investors should not ignore, however, the interconnectedness of today’s global markets.

By combining a tilt toward companies that display financial discipline and that embrace corporate diversity with the return engine of a fundamentally weighted portfolio, we believe investors in environmental, social, and governance (ESG)–related strategies have the opportunity to earn superior long-term risk-adjusted returns.

Economists may warn that the combination of Trump’s protectionism, big tax cuts, and uncontrolled government borrowing, coming at a time when the US economy is already near full employment, will ultimately fuel inflationary pressure. But financial markets simply do not believe this message.

President Trump’s plans for tariffs on about $60 billion of Chinese imports have rattled equity markets. Investors should begin to study which types of industries, countries and companies could win or lose if an all-out trade war erupts.

We believe that balancing higher-yielding assets with higher-quality assets is the best way to achieve the strategy’s objectives across different market environments.

We’ve written about the American steel tariffs in each of the last two weeks. But there remain some important points to make on the topic of trade.

We see the US economy as maintaining its current path of respectable but not overly robust growth. Underlying fundamentals and economic momentum remain constructive, while we do not foresee an acceleration in growth to a level that would swiftly create inflationary pressures.

Last week, we discussed China’s power structure and how the suspension of term limits changes recent precedents. This week, we continue this topic by analyzing China’s challenges while shifting from the world’s high growth/low cost producer to a slower growth, “normal” economy.

The stock market’s recovery is approaching the nine year mark and appears to have the potential to continue for a few more years.

The White House has announced a new set of broad tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The measure is surprising in its scope, its targets and its break from the long-prevailing trends of international trade.

No doubt you’ve heard before that bull markets don’t die of old age. I can’t say for sure what will end this particular business cycle—no one can—but we’re seeing huge shifts in monetary and fiscal policy right now that investors can’t afford to ignore. As I often say, government policy is a precursor to change.

The White House has announced a new set of broad tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The measure is surprising in its scope, its targets and its break from the long-prevailing trends of international trade.

President Donald Trump’s proposed tariff on imported steel and aluminum, at 25 percent and 10 percent, is much more than a shot across the bow. Indeed, this could be the official kickoff of the trade war we all anticipated. The protectionist trade policy, announced this week as the president met with metals executives, raised fresh inflation worries and had an immediate impact on capital markets.

Last March, we wrote a piece entitled “Equity Repricing Under a New Administration: A Tail Risk Scenario.” We posited that the proposed pro-growth tax and spending policies of the Trump administration, thrust onto an economy nearing full capacity, could lead to a general rise in the inflation rate and ultimately the real rate of interest.

Matthews Asia CIO Robert Horrocks says current stock valuations favor Asia amid an increase in market volatility globally.

Hasenstab shares his thoughts on navigating today’s market challenges. He covers recent market volatility, inflationary threats in the United States, upcoming elections in Latin America, potential “fault lines” in Europe and credit risk in China.

Recent oil/commodity market rallies created an extra month of “apparent demand” down the major value chains, as buyers added inventory ahead of expected price increases for their own raw materials. In turn, this created the illusion of a synchronized global recovery – but reality will now intrude as the rallies end.

Global equity markets are still hurting from last week’s sell-off. Yet the renewed volatility could mark a return to reality after an unusually long period of steady gains and may even foster a healthier investing environment over time.

One of my big risk concerns is the unknown amount of money in the risk parity trade. Essentially, volatility drives the weighting decisions. If equity market vol is low, then equities get a weighting. If equity market vol picks up, then, by rule, the risk parity strategies rebalance their exposures… in this case, reduce equity market exposure. They are mathematically-driven strategies and all essentially use very similar volatility measurements.

So most know we took one of our South Florida speaking tours last week. Such tours consist of meeting with portfolio managers, presentations to clients of Raymond James, branch visits with our financial advisors, doing the media thing, well you get the idea.

PIMCO takes a long-term view of markets and economies, one that anchors investment decisions during shorter-term periods of market volatility. Nonetheless, the dramatic return of market volatility has understandably unnerved many investors.

Learn why the current environment may support country investing.

A monthly review of market-moving events across countries and asset classes, and what investors can expect going forward.

Last week’s turbulence shined a harsh spotlight on the stock market. Appropriately so, if that’s where your investments are. But in the hubbub many investors are missing the deeper and far more urgent bond market issues.

Today I’d like to share a few words about the Olympics, but first, two words: Don’t panic.

Volatility has spiked, jolting investors out of complacency, but that doesn’t mean any dramatic action is needed.

Volatility returned in a big way earlier this week. Over the past few trading sessions, equity market volatility as measured by the VIX more than doubled, and global equities from Europe to the Asia Pacific region suffered steep declines. What happened?

The financial advisory industry is full of handy insights when it comes to web design. The slightest difference, even if it’s not clearly visible, can be a game changer in such a competitive industry.