Guild’s Basic Needs Index
The “second wave of the shale revolution.”
In 2015, the U.S. removed a restriction that had been in place since the 1973 Arab oil embargo — one that had prohibited crude oil exports. The result could be described, as we quote from in our headline from the head of the International Energy Agency, as a “second wave”
Huawei’s Undersea Ventures and Global Internet Security
Huawei’s Undersea Ventures and Global Internet Security Many intelligence analysts and agencies around the world are concerned that Chinese tech giant Huawei, as it sells hardware, software, and services around the globe, is working hand-in-glove with the Chinese government to further its geopolitical ambitions. These concerns are not limited to
Market Summary
Market Summary Bullish news came Wednesday from the Federal Reserve, at which Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated no further rate increases in 2019, and a single rate increase in 2020. We noted in last week’s letter that many global central banks are currently supportive of stock markets, and that includes
China’s Premier Talks About Further Easing
After the closing session of the National People’s Congress, Chinese second-in-command Li Keqiang addressed various measures that the Chinese government has taken to spur economic growth, and suggested more to come in the future. Source: Xinhua Li noted cuts to value-added taxes (slated to take effect on April 1), cuts
Chinese New Home Prices Rally: A Sign That Stimulus Is Working
As our regular readers know, we like to point out that the Chinese stock market’s performance is much more closely related to retail investor sentiment than are other major world markets. This is because the Chinese domestic stock market (“A sharesâ€) is relatively small compared to the Chinese economy, relatively
Global Market Commentary
Executive Summary 1. The Trump administration deepens its drive for transparent healthcare pricing. In February, the Trump administration asked for comments on a proposed rule with potentially vast effects on the entire U.S. healthcare sector. A rule that came into effect in January already required hospitals to make their list
Chinese Domestic Stocks Get A Boost From Global Indexer
Last year, MSCI — the company that constructs the indexes underlying many major ETFs and benchmarks — began to incorporate some domestically traded Chinese stocks into those indexes. These stocks, called “A shares” to distinguish them from other classes of Chinese shares that trade on exchanges outside the mainland, had
Copper’s Rally
Several base metals have rallied strongly in 2019: as of this writing, copper, nickel, and zinc are all up more than 10%. Copper — the “red metal” — is often referred to as “Dr Copper” because of its alleged status as a leading economic indicator. It is the leading industrial
Market Summary for the Week of February 22, 2019
Market Summary for Week of February 22, 2019 This week we are keeping it short. We remain bullish on the U.S., and on several foreign markets. The U.S. market is still a buy, in our opinion. Breakouts of the type we have recently seen offer opportunity for higher U.S. stock
Is It Time To Buy China?
Getting Bullish on China After a dismal 2018, the Chinese stock market has been one of the world’s better performers in 2019, with the MSCI China index up almost 13% as of this writing. Source: Bloomberg LLP As we have noted in several recent letters, the poor performance of the
Market Summary For the week ending February 15, 2019
The U.S. Economy and Markets In spite of slight deceleration from the GDP growth rate posted in 2018, the U.S. economy continues to be strong, and we anticipate that as 2019 unfolds, growth will strengthen. U.S. markets have rapidly recovered from their fourth-quarter swoon, and while we believe that
Morgan Stanley Goes Where the Money Is
Morgan Stanley [NYSE: MS] is acquiring a Canadian firm, Solium Capital, which manages stock-compensation plans for about 3,000 companies. Collectively, Solium’s clients have a million employees — disproportionately young, and disproportionately employed in high-tech, high-growth startup companies (including, for example, Nextdoor, Sonos, Dropbox, Stripe, and Instacart). This acquisition makes sense
Brazilian Politics Is Changing — And It’s Not Just A New President
Brazil’s 81-seat senate just elected a new leader. (The “president of the senate” is third in line to Brazil’s presidency.) It was not the old leader, who had served four two-year terms in the role: a well-known deal-maker who, like many establishment politicians in Brazil, is facing allegations of corruption.
Some GDP Deceleration, But U.S. Corporates and Consumers Are Still In Good Health
Some GDP Deceleration, But U.S. Corporates and Consumers Are Still In Good Health The partial government shutdown in early 2019 has delayed the Commerce Department’s official report on fourth-quarter U.S. GDP growth until February 28. In the absence of official data, polls of economists are providing some picture: about 2.6% annualized
