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Category Archives: Equities
Does/Should the Fed Care About the Stock Market?
Once upon a time, in another millennium, I worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It was during the reign of Chairman Volcker, first of his name. One thing I did was prepare statistical packages for the officers … Continue reading
Hitting ‘Em Where They Ain’t
“Keep your eye on the ball and hit ‘em where they ain’t” … Continue reading
Posted in Asset Allocation, Bonds, Currency, Equities, Investing
Tagged Asset Allocation, Bonds, Equities, FX, Investing
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Portfolio Management: Cooking With Hamburger Helper
Betty Crocker introduced Hamburger Helper in 1971. You took chopped meat and mixed it with what, in essence, was filler to complete the meal. Much of active management works the same way.
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Baseball and Stocks: Games of Failure
Remember that the best hitter in baseball this year will fail 65 percent of the time. — George Will Mookie Betts hit .346 in 2018, failing 65.4% of the time. Mr. Betts reached base more often than his batting average … Continue reading
Markets Fluctuate
“Markets fluctuate.” That was the entire comment by Ace Greenberg, the CEO of Bear Stearns, in a special issue of Institutional Investor magazine dedicated to opinions from the great and the good regarding the causes and consequences of October 1987’s … Continue reading
Home Is For Your Heart, Not Your Portfolio
A number of years ago I took over a portfolio that held corporate bonds from both developed and emerging markets. As I looked through the holdings a name popped out at me, Ipiranga. I turned to my credit analyst and … Continue reading
Posted in Credit, Emerging Markets, Equities, Investing, Market Cycles
Tagged Credit, Equities, Investing, Market Cycles
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Chinese Debt for Equity Swaps, 3 Card Monte By Another Name?
The Chinese government is bandying about debt for equity swaps as a potential cure for the overhang of corporate debt in the middle kingdom. Much, if not most, of the bank loans in China have been made by government owned banks to … Continue reading
Posted in China, Credit, Emerging Markets, Equities
Tagged China, Credit, Emerging Markets, Equities
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Banking the Fire
The narrative of the current market downturn, bear market, correction or whatever you prefer to call it had been about oil, China and the emerging markets. Now the banks have been put into play. Year to date their decline has outstripped … Continue reading
Posted in Banks, China, Credit, Equities, Uncategorized
Tagged Banks, China, Credit, Equities
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Junk Bonds or Equities With Coupons?
“Equities with Coupons” is a cynical description of high yield bonds. The expression, like many of its kind, contains more than an element of truth. Usually it’s invoked when trying to illustrate the risk of owning bonds priced near par. You may collect … Continue reading
Can Bonds Tell Us Something About the Stock Market?
I was visiting with the head of fixed income at a large asset manager when I mentioned the subject of my last post, the deterioration of corporate credit in some sectors. He noted that Baa bond spreads had been rising for … Continue reading
