December 19, 2013

Private Infrastructure Investment Larry Summers didn’t get nominated to run the Fed, but he certainly still has the President’s ear. A piece of analysis we read recently pointed us towards an op ed article he wrote for the Financial Times in mid-October. That piece suggested two lines of thought which we Read more…

December 12, 2013

Small Banks Feel the Regulatory Squeeze Through our own contacts in community and regional banks, we have heard many accounts of the effect of post-crisis regulations on this sector of the U.S. economy. The chart below outlines the consolidation of the banking sector.         Source: Investor’s Business Daily Read more…

November 27, 2013

Japan: The Market Still Driven by the Yen and Monetary Policy Since last year’s elections that brought Shinzo Abe to power in Japan, analysts have been consistent in one message: ultimately, the success or failure of Abe’s attempt to bring Japan back from its long stagnation depends on his ability to enact Read more…

November 21, 2013

Janet Yellen As Fed Chair — What Does It Mean for Investors? Dr. Janet Yellen is a Keynesian and monetary dove. According to her writings, her speeches, and now her confirmation hearing, she believes that the U.S. economy is not operating at capacity, and that Federal Reserve activities can improve economic activity Read more…

November 14, 2013

Why the U.S. Economy Will Strengthen We’ve been arguing that the U.S. economy will strengthen, and in the past week we got more indicators suggesting why this will happen. We’ve Been Bullish On U.S. Stocks As readers know, it is our view that we are at the stage of the economic Read more…

November 7, 2013

As the Trauma of 2008 Fades in the Rearview Mirror, How Much Longer Before Businesses Act in a More Growth-oriented Manner? U.S. business is growing slowly, and Business Confidence is returning. 1. The U.S. economy is poised to grow at a more rapid rate. The U.S. is not alone. In spite Read more…

October 31,2013

Bank Reform: Europe’s Slow and Steady Progress Continues When Spain’s real estate bubble burst in 2008, the country went into a recession. The country was returning to growth in 2010, just in time to be taken down by the continent’s emerging banking and sovereign debt crisis. Since then, concerns about the stability Read more…

October 24, 2013

Government Dysfunction Was Not Effective in Putting Much Fear in the Markets. Here’s Why. The investing world has gotten tired; it is especially tired of crisis. It is tired of financial TV’s network anchors babbling on about how bad the debt limit fight would be, about the looming disaster when the U.S. can’t Read more…

October 17, 2013

Global Economics Provides Reasons to Be Bullish, But Politics Poses Downside Risk As we write this, Capitol Hill’s partisan bickering and rancor have reached the conclusion we anticipated. We don’t believe that the conflict which monopolized headlines for the past two weeks is of lasting import. From our perspective, the fundamentals are Read more…

October 10, 2013

More Reasons to Be Bullish on Japan We believe recent events and emerging trends continue to justify a bullish position on Japanese equity markets. Since the Japanese economy has been trapped in deflation for more than two decades, the psychology of Japanese market participants — from individuals to corporate managers Read more…