The nearly 14 years of financial repression that allowed politicians to escape the economic consequences of their actions without fear of retribution from the frontier justice of free markets appears to be ending. The ever-expanding balance sheets of the world’s largest central banks effectively monetized the profligate spending of wayward fiscal policies in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Until recently, the unintended consequences of these policies were hidden from an eli… View More
Equities closed higher (S&P 500 +1.6%) in a roller-coaster week, snapping a three-week losing streak. Stocks bounced early in the week on oversold conditions and negative sentiment. There was also a renewed pickup in policy pivot hopes. The week ended with a stronger than hoped for employment report selloff. Best sector was energy (+13.9%); worst sectors were REITS (-4.1%) and utilities (-2.6%). 3Q Earnings Season To Kick Off Later This Week With The Banks With the banks expected to repo… View More
Stocks and bonds both declined for the third consecutive quarter, the longest streak in almost 50 years. The S&P 500 fell 5.3%, ten-year Treasury yields rose 85bps and two-year yields rose 130bps resulting in the most inverted yield curve in several decades. The dollar rose for the fifth straight quarter, increasing 7%, the largest quarterly gain in nearly 8 years. The big story for the quarter was the tightening of financial conditions driven by expectations of a more aggressive global rate… View More
Stocks And Bonds On Pace For 3rd Consecutive Negative Quarter Of the 187 quarters since 1976, there has never been a period that has seen negative quarterly returns for both stocks and bonds three quarters in a row. Should the S&P 500 close below 3,785 today, this will occur. Negative returns for both stocks and bonds are more often than not associated with recessions which are looking more and more likely these days. S&P 500 Sees Its Most Volatile Half Since 2009 My colleague, Todd… View More
We had been bullish on stocks all the way back to March 2009, when mark-to market accounting was fixed and the Financial Panic started to recede. At that time the S&P 500 traded as low as 666. What a time to buy! After that we remained bullish. We didn’t recommend selling in spite of a wide range of fears that spooked many others, including the Great Recession lasting through 2010, a double-dip recession, a second wave of home foreclosures, an implosion in commercial real estate, the pass… View More