The Financial Times – As the market swoons, share buybacks are back Buybacks started to slow down last year, but there are signs that investors can still count on Corporate America. In fact, companies’ purchases of their own shares appear to have played a role in reversing the recent stock market swoon. Goldman Sachs’s buyback desk… Continue reading Stock Buybacks Return
The Economist – Are alpha males worse investors? A paper recently published by researchers at the University of Central Florida and Singapore Management University looks at the relationship between testosterone (a hormone associated with competitiveness and risk-taking) and investment performance. Using over twenty years of data on hedge-fund returns and thousands of images collected from… Continue reading This May Be A Sign We Have Hit Peak Big Data
CNBC – Fed could ‘rock the boat’ with what it says about the stock market’s worst fears: higher inflation and interest rates With stocks reeling, the Fed’s release of its January meeting minutes Wednesday could have even more impact than usual if they provide new insight on inflation or interest rates. The minutes could be a… Continue reading Why Today’s FOMC Minutes Could Shake Up The Markets
The Financial Times – Latvian bank chief denounces accusations and death threats Rimsevics denies graft allegations and refuses to quit as scrutiny intensifies liver Bramwell, Norvik’s chief executive, told the Financial Times that his bank had reported its allegations of bribery by Mr Rimsevics to the Latvian police. National media said this week that police had… Continue reading Latvian Bank Chief Rimsevics Denies Bribery Charges
Bloomberg – Morgan Stanley Says Stock Slide Was Appetizer for Real Deal “It’s when growth softens while inflation is still rising that returns suffer most,” the strategists wrote. “Strong global growth and a good first-quarter reporting season provided an important offset. We remain on watch for ‘tricky hand-off’ in the second quarter, as core inflation… Continue reading Markets Relying Heavily on TIPS Breakevens to Forecast Fed’s Tightening Pace
Barron’s – REITs Are Sending a Powerful Buy Signal Investors are concerned that further rate increases will undermine the appeal of REITs. But given the stocks’ poor performance, shares might already discount a rise in rates. “It has been a rough opening for REITs in 2018,” says Kirby, who argues REITs are undervalued relative to stocks… Continue reading Real Estate Left Behind in Rebound
Bloomberg – Jim Bianco: Say Goodbye to Stocks and Bonds Moving in Opposite Directions The post-crisis era has been dominated by a risk-on/risk-off trading environment where risk assets such as stocks and safe assets such as bonds move in opposite directions. That may no longer be true. Some have dismissed the recent spike in volatility… Continue reading The Relationship Between Stocks & Bonds May Be Changing
Full-year 2018 earnings forecasts are already in uncharted territory and are still rising.
OPEN Commitment of Traders Analysis For February 16, 2018 On February 16, 2018, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released the Commitments of Traders (CoT) statistics for Tuesday, February 13, 2018. Click on the open button above for some charts noting some of the data we found interesting from our new interactive CoT report. We… Continue reading CoT Update For February 16, 2018
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – U.S. Crude Is No Longer on Sale The difference between U.S. and global oil prices is the smallest since before Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, raising questions about how much crude will continue to gush from the Gulf Coast to markets in Europe and Asia. The deep discount for U.S.… Continue reading Brent vs. WTI
The Wall Street Journal – Washington’s $500 Million Financial-Storm Forecaster Is Foundering Congress created a brand new agency after the 2008 financial crisis with a gargantuan mission: Serve as the finance world’s version of the National Weather Service. The new Office of Financial Research wasn’t expected to prevent economic storms, but it was supposed to… Continue reading More Evidence Of Deregulation