Chief Investment Officer David Donabedian recaps the first half of 2015 and provides an outlook for economic activity and financial markets in the third quarter of the year.
In a year of notable financial developments, perhaps the most far-reaching and visible of this group is the sharp decline in oil prices in the second half of 2014. Crude has dropped more than 50% since June and is now trading below $50 per barrel. This precipitous decline stands in contrast to a prior four years of relative price stabil...
As the autumn winds begin to gust in 2015, Jeremy Siegel’s disciples seem ubiquitous across the world of institutional investing. Allocations to equities are massive with the mentality being “of course we all know a correction is coming but I would rather suffer through a correction than miss the next leg up.” Eager to buy i...
The phrase “private equity liquidity” once felt like an oxymoron, but the picture is rapidly changing.Liquidity has traditionally meant something very different for private equity than it has for other types of investments. While investors in other vehicles could trade their positions quarterly, monthly, or daily, those in closed-end pr...
The positive supply shock to the economy created by the increase in U.S. oil production has policymakers reconsidering this country's four-decade-old oil ban on exports. From a pure economics standpoint, exporting domestically-produced oil would benefit both producers and consumers and increase overall efficiencies in the domestic energy market...
With the ever-evolving nature of international tax, the non-U.S. resident or non-U.S. citizen with activities in the United States (referred to as “inbound” activities) and their U.S. advisors should become aware of fundamental, international tax principles to avoid the unintended application of U.S. tax. This guide serves as a res...
Most market watchers seem to be missing the point about the Fed’s impending rate hike cycle. It’s not about the when, it’s about the how. For months the Federal Reserve has been expressing its desire to begin policy normalization by raising interest rates, moving away from the zero interest rate policy (ZIRP) that has b...
U.S. stock market activity has been unusually volatile in the last couple days, with the S&P falling roughly 3.2% Friday and 3.9% Monday before rebounding about 2% in early Tuesday trading.Lower-quality credit markets has also suffered while treasuries and high-grade debt have rallied. This market commentary discusses where the global market st...
At a Daily Journal annual meeting in Los Angeles earlier this year, Charlie Munger – the 91-yearold Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway – shared his opinion on the investment landscape when asked about negative interest rates in Europe and persistently low rates in the United States:"This has basically never happened before in my w...
On August 19, the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its July 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which showed the Fed’s concern about China’s economic growth and market turmoil, as well as broader weakening in emerging market economies. The minutes also indicated the Fed’s view that a weakening global economy has ...
The Export-Import Bank was created in February 1934, as part of the New Deal, to finance trade with the newly established Soviet Union. A second bank was created a month later to finance trade with Cuba and shortly thereafter expanded to include all countries with the exception of the Soviet Union. Congress passed legislation to combine the two ban...
It’s a bit early for Halloween, but the equity markets have been scary over the past few weeks and months. Fear is problematic, particularly when it comes to investing in equities.There are currently two macro-driven events affecting the equity markets: the impact of the Greek debt crisis on the Eurozone’s recovery and implication...
This article reviews the latest 1.9% devaluation of the Chinese yuan (CNY) reference rate and identifies the three factors that prompted the currency move and the potential long- and short-term implications for Chinese and global asset classes.
While it was not expected that as of July 16, Greece’s creditors would still be attempting to keep the country in the euro with a plan that does not work with the economics of Greece. The reforms that the Greek Parliament accepted on July 16 was poorly designed and far harsher than the vote rejected by the Greek populace 10 days earlier. Th...
U.S. equities, now six years into a bull market, have proven their mettle in the face of increased market volatility. While the seemingly imminent Fed rate hike could potentially add another risk to the market’s momentum, the fact that yields are coming off from almost zero still makes equities compelling. At the time of writing, it app...