View PDF Comment With over 90% of the S&P 500 companies now reporting Q2 2017 earnings, this season is almost in the books. 73% beat expectations, above the post-crisis average of 69%. This beat rate pushed the year-over-year operating earnings growth rate above 10% for the second year in a row. … Continue reading Q2 Earnings, Another Solid Quarter
Bloomberg – Winter Is Coming: After Summer Bond Binge, Signs of Angst Grow Exuberant investors propel credit markets amid issuance boom Have we finally reached peak credit markets? It’s a question that big names like BlackRock, DoubleLine and Pimco have been asking during this seemingly endless summer of debt. Signs of froth are everywhere. U.S.… Continue reading Will the High Yield Haters Be Right?
Bloomberg – Upward Inflation Trend Poised to Reassert Itself CPI data for July, due for release tomorrow, is likely to show the fall back in annual inflation in June was a blip. The acceleration in price gains should largely reflect faster gains in food prices. The release is likely to show the overshoot of inflation… Continue reading UK Economic Data Set to Rebound
The Wall Street Journal – Pence, on Latin America Visit, Plays Down Trump Talk of Military Approach to Venezuela Vice president expresses confidence in a peaceful transition as tensions grow over Maduro regime’s heavy-handed tactics Vice President Mike Pence tamped down President Donald Trump’s threats of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela amid growing regional fears that such comments… Continue reading Venezuela Remains Desperate
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – U.S. Stocks: We’re No. 39! American investors may be cheering on the rally in U.S. stocks this year, but they would have been better off putting their money almost anyplace else. Take Belgium, where the MSCI index gained 15.1% through Thursday in dollar terms, versus 9% for the U.S. index. Or… Continue reading Comparing YTD Stock Returns Across The Globe
Bloomberg – U.S. Default? Unlikely, But Bond Traders Are Taking No Chances While Republican leaders are confident their party can set aside its differences to resolve the latest debt-limit impasse before the clock runs out sometime between late September and mid-October, investors are shying away from Treasury bills earlier than they have in the past.… Continue reading The Debt Ceiling
The Financial Times – Central banks’ forex influence holds key for stocks At a time when inflation is not a problem and bond yields suggest a degree of disinflationary pressure, no one wants a sharply strong currency let alone a tightening of financial conditions. This clearly shows up when you look at the tussle between… Continue reading The Strong Euro/Weak Dollar
The Financial Times – Whatever happened to the global savings glut? Cross-border financial flows helped facilitate the credit crisis a decade ago. After the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, many countries in that region decided that maintaining big foreign currency reserves was a prerequisite for financial stability. They sold bonds to their citizens and… Continue reading Current Account Balances Throughout The Years
The Financial Times – Record ETF inflows fuel price bubble fears Record-breaking inflows into exchange traded funds this year are fuelling fears that the tide of money surging into passive investment is helping to inflate a bubble in the US stock market. Demand for ETFs has accelerated sharply this year, as a growing number of… Continue reading Active vs. Passive
The Wall Street Journal – How Do You Price a Problem Like Korea? Here’s a question that’s probably not on the CFA exam: What happens to financial markets if two nuclear-armed nations go to war? After a week of escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, some financial analysts are now taking a stab… Continue reading Pricing Nuclear War Into Stocks
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – When Cheaper P/E Ratios Mean Nothing As of June 30, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, the stocks in the S&P 500 index traded at a price/earnings ratio of 23.56 — meaning that their combined price was almost 24 times the net earnings all those companies had generated over the past… Continue reading The Art Of Calculating A P/E Ratio