It’s not rare that we sit scratching our heads at obvious contradictions expressed by investment markets. But that generally is not because obviously opposing opinions are surprising. After all, any individual trade requires that the buyer and seller have opposite opinions on whether to hold a particular security. That’s not a paradox…it’s a market. But […]
Over the four-plus decades since Americans last braced against a high-inflation environment, investors have seen interest rates sink to fresh lows and rise to lower peaks with each successive economic cycle. Rates are well off recent depths on account of ongoing efforts to ease upward price pressures, bringing positive and negative impacts along with: Listen […]
The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank over the weekend brought to life the notion that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to combat inflation would have knock-on effects for investment scenarios that had been dependent on a lower interest rate environment. But the Fed, along with the U.S. Treasury, took quick action to ensure […]
In recent months we’ve sought to highlight the notion that investment markets are forward-looking, meaning that they tend to reflect aggregate investor views as to where global economies and the countries and companies that operate within them are heading, rather than where they’ve been. But what does that mean, exactly? Another Look at Inflation Where […]
Last month we spoke to the relatively rare occasions that U.S. stock markets failed to show a gain by year’s end. The stark decline and the several failed attempts at a rebound in stocks last year were reminders that markets don’t always go up. Minimally, then, market activity in 2022 highlighted the “you lose” side […]
Most years see some manner of substantial decline in stocks, even as most full-year tallies turn out positive. This year has proved an exception to that tendency. Thus far, at least—there’s still about a month to go. With stocks well off the trough for the year, but still far from their peak at the start […]
