Inflation on the Front Burner

Inflation on the Front Burner Fed Chair Warsh’s speech at Jackson Hole on Friday had a clear message: the Fed is not declaring victory on inflation, does not view the economy as broadly weak, and will not pre-announce its next move. If upcoming data do not demonstrate faster, durable progress toward 2% inflation, Warsh’s framework […]
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A Brief History of Debt

A Brief History of Debt (and Why it Matters) The last few weeks have looked a lot like 2022, which was the worst year for the 60/40 portfolio since 1937. I could write a book detailing the missteps of Congress and the Fed that have led us here, but there isn’t time for that, so […]
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Trees Don’t Grow to the Sky | October 1, 2022

Trees Don’t Grow to the Sky We lead off this week with a confession. What follows is not original. We are paraphrasing a terrific report that came from the Federal Reserve earlier this month, titled “The coming long-run slowdown in corporate profit growth and stock returns”. The report very clearly highlights the longer-term impact of […]
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Do you Believe in Miracles? | July 2, 2022

Do you Believe in Miracles? We just completed the worst first half stock performance since 1970. (See chart below.) To make matters worse, rates increased and bonds were also hit extremely hard. The result was that the ‘standard’ 60/40 portfolio (60% S&P 500 /40% Aggregate Bond Index) declined a record 16.1% in the first half. […]
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Embracing Risk | January 29, 2022

Embracing Risk After operating in an environment where risks were clearly backstopped by the Federal Reserve. For investors, the world we have known for at least the last 13 years was on course for a fundamental change. The message that investors should be hearing loud and clear is that that there are risks that can’t […]
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