The markets are off to a rough start this year, culminating last week with a capitulation-like sell-off that left the S&P 500 Index down 10% since January 1st. The pull-back was triggered by many of the same worries that we experienced last fall: China’s slowing growth and their overvalued currency, the Federal Reserve’s decision to … Continued
While breaking every established financial record in the movie industry, the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” also brought into clear focus the bifurcated state of the movie industry. Given changes in our collective viewing preferences for entertainment, as well as changing economic forces, studios have gravitated towards the safety and security of producing … Continued
It has been almost seven years since the world’s economy and markets reached their global financial crisis lows. Since then, domestic stock and bond markets have recovered strongly but the economic cycle has been slow to progress, and the pace of growth has been disappointing relative to previous economic recoveries. In this lower-for-longer growth environment, … Continued
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.” – Mike Tyson If the markets were a boxing match, then last quarter’s pummeling would have been met with calls for the referee to intervene. Volatile commodity prices, a potential Greek default, uncertainty around tighter U.S. monetary policy, pharmaceutical and biotechnology pricing worries, geopolitical … Continued
Over the centuries, the Chinese economy has been through many transitions. Before the isolationist policies of the 17th century, the country actually enjoyed the position of being the world’s second largest economy. However, the collective decision to not participate in the industrial revolution proved to be detrimental and by the time Mao Zedong died in … Continued
While domestic markets reached all-time highs in 2013, emerging markets stumbled and declined just over 2% for the year in comparison to the 27% returns in international developed markets. On an absolute basis this doesn’t seem so bad but, looking back at history, the last time a performance differential between emerging and developed markets this … Continued