The U.S. public is concerned over inflation and COVID, which has resulted in lower approval ratings for Biden and Democrats. The Fed may have no choice but to respond, even if it puts the stock market at risk.
Today's topics include the labor shortage, fighting inflation, looking for clues on balance sheet reduction in the upcoming FOMC minutes, the santa rally, China's hand in food inflation, another measure of supply chain pressures, the case for a continued housing boom, and a Minsky moment?
Today's topics include the Fed begins to map out reduction of bond holdings, omicron tops one million Monday, the omicron effect, testing the Fed's inflation-fighting resolve, risks to market optimism, checking in on the Fed's repo facility, money managers betting on value stocks, and passive ETF rebalancing costs
Last year's stock market rally was one of the narrowest ever seen. It was driven by the largest stocks in the S&P 500, with five stocks having a heavy influence on returns. Mid-cap, small-cap, and stock markets outside the U.S. failed to beat inflation.
2021 was marked by excess savings flowing into index funds and a few large stocks producing outsized returns. The further away one got from these themes, the worse they did.
A recap of the best and worst returns across major asset classes in 2021
Today's topics include factory output improving, global inflation outlook, the Evergrande saga continues, Tesla continues to humble doubters, Hong Kong starts off the new year on bad footing, discussing potential 2022 economic trends, startups boom, and estimating the real covid death toll
A long-term look at labor statistics since 1774
A long-term look at miles driven and miles per gallon