Bloomberg – The Bull Run in Emerging Stocks May Be Just Getting Started Developing equities could double in two years, firm says An overanalysis of geopolitics, “central bank zigzags” and a focus on company earnings are all just distractions when it comes to riding bull markets in emerging stocks. That’s the view of Bank of America Merrill… Continue reading Emerging Market Equities Roll On
Bloomberg – Monster Storms Change Coastlines, Not Minds on Climate Change Research shows views unlikely to shift after extreme weather Back-to-back hurricanes fueled by warm Atlantic waters may have altered the coasts of Texas and Florida, but there’s no indication they are shifting the politics of climate change. “We cannot ignore that carbon emissions are causing our ocean… Continue reading Measuring Climate Change Sentiment
OPEN Markets After Major Hurricanes Webcast Some brief highlights: Sustained risk off moves in U.S. equities have not been common after major storms U.S. 10yr yields have tended to rise follow most major hurricanes Only a handful of storms caused a sustained rise in oil prices Life and property/casualty insurers have seen widely… Continue reading Markets After Major Hurricanes Webcast
Bloomberg – FAANG Performance Exposes Cluster-Risk Blind Spot for Portfolios The surge in FAANG stocks is exposing a blind spot in fundamental-risk models that is largely overlooked by investors and may endanger their portfolios, according to AllianceBernstein. Cluster risk, occurring when performance patterns become correlated among a group of stocks with similar business profiles yet… Continue reading This Is What Happens When Everyone Bets On The Same Stocks
Bloomberg – Fed Officials Admit They’ve Lost Some Credibility on Inflation After years of maintaining that inflation expectations were stable and solidly grounded, Fed policy makers are starting to recognize a small but worrying softening in the outlook that consumers, businesses and investors have for prices…That’s a concern because expectations shape how households and companies… Continue reading Inflation Expectations
The Financial Times – Corporate bondholders heighten market risk Every month, the US Treasury updates a list of the major foreign holders of government bonds. For more than a year, Ireland has occupied third place in the rankings behind the two $1tn holders of Treasury bonds; Japan and China. Powering Ireland’s eclipse of Brazil and… Continue reading Corporate Cash Piles Abroad
Bloomberg – Fed Leadership Changes May Bring a GDP-Focused Agenda Given the list of names being floated as possible replacements for Yellen, which includes candidates with commercial banking backgrounds and economists whose academic work embodies policy rules and tax issues, it’s not hard to imagine that new leadership at the Fed could start to focus… Continue reading FOMC Policy Amid Changes At The Fed
Bloomberg – S&P 500’s Bull Market Gets a New Title: Third Strongest Ever The elevation in U.S. stocks this week added a new credential to the ongoing bull market: third strongest ever. While the S&P 500 Index’s rally has stalled just shy of 2,500, it’s sitting a hefty 269 percent higher than its March 2009… Continue reading Ranking Stock Market Rallies
Bloomberg – Risk Asset Classes Heading Into Volatility Danger Zone: SocGen Investors lulled by the long downward slide in price swings across global equities and government bonds are about to get a rude awakening as both asset classes are entering “dangerous volatility regimes,” according to Societe Generale. A study of 12-month expected global equity volatility… Continue reading Where’s The Volatility?
Apple is the largest stock by capitalization, $821 billion as of this writing. As such, it has the largest weighting in the S&P 500. The chart below shows, Apple is currently 3.71% of the S&P 500. The sharp-eyed reader will note that Apple’s weighting peaked at 4.88% almost five years ago… Continue reading Looking At Apple
Another Bitcoin crackdown in China led us to highlight again how total Bitcoin volume was decimated by regulatory measures against Bitcoin exchanges in China. The interactive chart below shows how trading in Chinese Yuan dominated the market, accounting for over 90% of total trading, then collapsed. The remarkable fact that the huge drop… Continue reading Bitcoin Dollar Volume