equities

When the working age population grows faster than the broad population, demographics become a tailwind as far as economic growth is concerned. Hence, what is likely to become a significant headwind for advanced economies in terms of…

Apple set another record for revenue in its fourth quarter of 2013 according to its latest earnings. However, margins at Apple have receded such that profit fell for yet another quarter. Overall, Apple’s strategy now seems to be geared…

It is worth noting that currently both markets are pushing deviation extremes only seen four times previously. The difference has much to do with the "secular market" within which these deviations occurred. The current deviation from the…

Below are the video and some excerpts from a recent interview BlackRock CEO Larry Fink did with Bloomberg Television. The interview here is mostly about the effect of the government shutdown and debt ceiling crisis on the economy and…

Summary: I expect the debt ceiling impasse to be overcome today as a result of a Senate-brokered deal. With this manufactured crisis out of the way, we can concentrate on earnings and on the economy. While US growth is on track, I expect…

Safe assets are in short supply. If the US government shuts down for a long time, there will be a flight to quality. And the lack of safe assets will support the Treasury market.

Regardless of the metric that you use, deviations from the long term growth trend are unstainable and will eventually mean revert.

The P/E ratio is a statistic that, while all-encompassing, can be misleading in determining under- and overvaluation. Nonetheless regarding valuation it can be a useful guide in context.

My caution on U.S. markets is based not just on technical factors coming from the crisis in emerging markets and the longstanging lack of a market correction. I am also concerned that interest rates have started to rise against a backdrop…

The gain in equity prices is now outpacing profits at a rate not see since the heady dot-com days. In fact, on a GAAP accounting basis, profits have been falling. I believe this creates a dangerous situation in view of rising interest rates…