The USA, as well as the world, equity markets are at very important crossroads. They are heavily dependent on volatile inflation, interest rate and on earnings prospects. Geopolitical factors and Economic data heavily contribute to the instability of markets. On the Geopolitical front the war in Ukraine and the ‘zero Covid policy’ of China affect the […]

The FED missed the  inflationary situation calling it for a long  time a transient phenomenon. It was a structural one. The war in Ukraine exacerbated the supply shocks in agricultural products and energy. With its very delayed reaction, the FED  is attempting to use Demand policies to solve mainly supply shock problems . The continuous abrupt  interest rate increases,  after […]

Financial assets have  some great advantages like the ability to diversify and the possibility to engage in partial sales to finance desired expenses. No doubt, Liquidity is a great blessing. However, they also have a great disadvantage . They create nervousness as a result of their ability to provide continuous valuation. Investors sometimes panic by marking […]

Perfect storm The FED made a major mistake underestimating inflation. Interest rates should have increased earlier. Now it is tightening aggressively.  We experience the worst inflation in 40 years.  Covid resurfaced in China. It is the worst pandemic in 100 years  In addition, have a war in Europe after 75years.  A painful coincidence! Have markets […]

Inflation and the  Supply curve  A few thoughts on the markets : Negatives : A) Waited  to comment on the April inflation numbers. Higher  at 8.3 pct for the CPI than the forecasts at 8.1 pct. Core inflation also 0.2 pct higher. Inflation appears persistent and markets are disappointed. B)Markets  fear that persistent  inflation will probably necessitate more interest rate […]

A critical evaluation of the consensus views. The first quarter of 2022 reinforced the view that a diversified portfolio should strategically include most asset classes and can prove beneficial during hard times. Cash and gold justified during this period  their presence in portfolios despite not providing any yields !  Evidently, as always the portfolio asset […]