ESG is growing in prominence in the investment world. The term refers to the incorporation of “environmental, social, and governance” factors into investment analysis. ESG analysis gives interested investors a window into companies’ behavior and its wider impact in areas that they care about. In order to align their investment Read more
The U.S. U.S. stocks continue to forge ahead. In the ebb and flow of news related to trade, impeachment, geopolitics, and the 2020 election, we continue to note underlying reasons for strength. (Of course, the market may decline by 1–4% at any time). One of these reasons is the perpetually Read more
The U.S. With most major indices having pushed to new highs, a modest correction of a few percent is possible at any time. Still, we anticipate that by the end of the first quarter of 2020, the U.S. stock market as a whole will likely be 8–10% higher than today, Read more
It has long been obvious to every professional investor, pension administrator or member of a corporate or union pension committee. Now it’s even in The Wall Street Journal: an article on the increasing risks that pension funds are having to take on as they struggle to earn adequate returns in Read more
The U.S. Most large U.S. indices have pushed to new all-time highs, on the back of optimism stoked by positive earnings (as we have have been anticipating over the past few weeks) and perhaps because of optimism about U.S./China trade negotiations. We see that negotiation process continuing to play out, Read more
Two and a half years ago, University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize for his foundational work in creating the discipline now known as behavioral economics, from which we have gotten the field of behavioral finance. We described one of Thaler’s main discoveries: “Humans are not immune Read more
Many investors are cycle-watchers. The cycles they watch vary greatly and encompass the whole spectrum of economic, financial, political, and geopolitical events and trends. Some are brief, some are long, and some (such as the Kondratiev wave cycle) attempt to frame and track historical epochs. We do not assign decisive Read more
The U.S. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.25% yesterday. That, plus an announcement that they were closely watching the growth of the U.S. and world economies, will continue to keep the market in a trading range for the next few weeks. The U.S. market is overbought and Read more
Perceived recession risks continue to tick down, after reaching a flurry over the summer. Morgan Stanley’s recession risk model continues to register lows for the year. Source: Morgan Stanley Research They comment: “Parts of the economy are responding well to the sharp drop in interest rates since January, an indication Read more
As we’re fond of saying, corporate profits are the mother’s milk of stock prices, so every three months, as quarterly U.S. earnings reports come out, we’re busy watching and listening to see what trends are emerging and what companies have to say about the immediate past and about the near Read more
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