Research & News
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The U.S.-China “Phase One” Trade Deal: Part I (January 27, 2020)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA After months of negotiations, the U.S. and China signed “Phase One” of what is expected to be a multiple-phase trade deal. After noting media response to the agreement, we were struck by the dismissive consensus narrative that has developed. Our careful review of the document seemed to suggest a much more… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 24, 2020)
by Asset Allocation Committee One of the risks we noted in the 2020 Outlook: Storm Watch was the potential for a “melt-up.” On the one hand, seeing a parabolic rise in equities seems like a positive. On the other, a rise of significant magnitude only occurs because of a surge of late buyers; these latecomers usually… Read More »
Asset Allocation Quarterly (First Quarter 2020)
The U.S. election season and the more dovish composition of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors should ensure policy accommodation continues in the near-term. The recent resolution of trade policies with China and the prospect for finalization of USMCA produces an environment where corporate capital can be deployed with less uncertainty. Although we hold a… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 17, 2020)
by Asset Allocation Committee The December employment data showed three interesting developments that are worth discussing. They are wage growth, hours worked and the level of “out of the workforce.” Wage growth: For most of last year, production and non-supervisory wage growth was outpacing that of overall workers. This development suggested that ordinary workers were finally… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – After Soleimani (January 13, 2020)
by Bill O’Grady (Due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, our next report will be published on January 27.) On January 3rd, the U.S. launched a missile strike that killed Major General Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). As a high-profile commander, his death… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (January 10, 2020)
by Asset Allocation Committee In our 2020 Outlook, we discussed three risks to the forecast, with one of them being a “melt-up” or a dramatic rise in stock prices. One of the key factors that could bolster higher prices for risk assets would be the idea that the FOMC has engineered a soft landing, which is… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (December 20, 2019)
by Asset Allocation Committee (N.B. This is our last Asset Allocation Weekly for 2019. The next edition will be published January 10, 2020.) Did the Fed engineer a soft landing? That is the critical question for 2020. If the Fed, through its rate cuts last year,[1] has rescued the economy, it would be one of the… Read More »
2020 Outlook: Storm Watch (December 19, 2019)
by Bill O’Grady & Mark Keller | PDF Summary – The Base Case: Economy grows at 1.5%; consumption has become the primary driver of growth. Expansion continues to set new records for duration; no recession is our base case in 2020, although there are increasing risks of a downturn. Core inflation max is 2.5% next… Read More »