The European Central Bank buys securities from banks. Under Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank has embarked on its boldest stimulus yet — expanding its balance sheet by purchasing various kinds of asset-backed securities from Eurozone banks. We applaud Draghi’s determination, and we are hopeful that governments in Europe will do more to Read more
Falling Oil Oil continues its sharp decline, driven by seasonal factors, although a strong U.S. Dollar and global growth slowdown fears are also involved. Oil companies have been hurt, and the U.S. consumer is benefitting from cheaper gasoline. Although the strong Dollar may eventually hurt U.S. exports, we note that sharp oil price Read more
Pay attention: the U.S. Dollar’s rise is critical for investors. The U.S. Dollar has broken out against other developed-market currencies. Although the Dollar may fall for a short period of time over the next few weeks, its longer term trend is higher. We believe that this rise is being permitted in order to Read more
Is an Education Gap Fueling Income Inequality? 2014 has been the year of “income inequality.” French economist Thomas Piketty’s massive book Capital in the 21st Century was published in English, and strangely rose to the top of the bestseller lists (something that doesn’t usually happen to thick economics texts). The issue of Read more
The S&P Hits 2000 Why is the market moving slowly ahead when so many naysayers are calling for a crash, and when so many trouble spots are festering in the world? We all see the fighting — problems in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, Ukraine, Libya — and we note that things are Read more
China Deepens Reform and Privatization of State-Owned Enterprises We wrote a few weeks ago that events in China show Xi Jinping decisively consolidating his power — specifically, the downfall of Zhu Yongkang, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee and the most powerful politician to be investigated for corruption in the Read more
What Is the Bond Market Telling Us? Interest rate levels have been confounding many professional investors around the globe. U.S. government benchmark 10-year interest rates began 2014 near 3.00 percent, but they have been sliding back to about 2.40 percent recently. The rally in bond markets and corresponding declines in yields are Read more
New BRICS Institutions Highlight the Changing Global Financial Order Leaders of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — have taken a decisive step to increase their clout in global finance and reduce their dependence on financial institutions dominated by Europe and the United States. For now, this Read more
Market Summary World Stock Markets The U.S., Europe, and Asia remain in bull markets, but the markets in the U.S. and Europe are in the middle of a mild stock market correction. Causes include the military actions by Russia in Ukraine, and fighting in Iraq, Syria and Libya, which are all exacerbated Read more
India — Modi’s Budget Is Growth-Oriented and As Expected The release last week of the first budget from India’s new administration was about what investors expected. The Indian stock market had already run up substantially this year in anticipation of a likely victory by business-friendly Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Read more
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