The cryptocurrency sphere and that of traditional finance continue to merge in ways that were previously unthinkable. To wit, Canary Capital filed documentation with the SEC to start the first ETF backed by non-fungible digital tokens. Non-fungible tokens are digital assets representing ownership of a specific piece of content. Most often, they are backed by […]
The following commentary is from Redfin “There are 34% more sellers in the market than buyers. At no other point in records dating back to 2013 have sellers outnumbered buyers this much. In other words, it’s a buyer’s market. Redfin expects home prices to drop 1% by the end of the year as a result. […]
An old Wall Street adage advises investors to sell in May and go away. Given that we have just turned the calendar to June, it’s worth assessing whether selling stocks and holding cash for the next seven months makes sense. The graph and data below are based on two trading strategies, both starting in January […]
Some bearish bond investors in Japan and the US appear to believe that a paradigm shift is underway in the sovereign bond markets. To wit, consider the following statement from Jim Bianco on Thoughtful Money: “If these deficits are really going to kick in and cause problems, these rates are going to go much higher than […]
On Wednesday afternoon, the judges from the US Court of International Trade struck down some of President Trump’s tariffs. Notably, the judge’s actions included an injunction on the “Liberation Day” tariffs and specific tariffs targeting China, Mexico, and Canada. The court’s three judges found that Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers […]
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index surged from 85.7 to 98.0. Such was the largest one-month increase since 2009! Clearly, progress on trade deals and the delay in implementing tariffs spurred the increase. Moreover, the recovering stock market also boosted consumer confidence. However, bear in mind that the index is coming off its lowest level […]
A reader of our Daily Commentary asked how we measure corporate credit spreads in light of the Moody’s downgrade of the USA credit rating. Specifically, “Without having a AAA benchmark to calculate the credit spread of corporate bonds against, what other measure can help me assessing stress in the corporate bond market.” First its important […]
After a bout of relative market tranquility, investors were rudely awakened Friday with a barrage of new tariff actions targeting the EU and Apple. Via Truth Social, Trump recommended a 50% tariff on European Union imports starting June 1, 2025, and a 25% tariff on all iPhones made outside the US. Regarding the EU, the […]
The short answer is that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) is letting the market set yields. For years, the BOJ has run an extremely loose monetary policy, including capping yields at extremely low levels and negative interest rates. Limited economic growth and disinflation made such a policy possible. However, inflationary pressures and a weak yen […]