Category: Blog

Business Loans at U.S. Banks Business loans at U.S. banks are tightly connected to the real economy and stalled in second half of this year. Image: Financial Times

ISM Manufacturing Index and S&P 500 Realized Volatility Interesting chart suggesting the correlation between the S&P 500 realized volatility and the ISM Manufacturing Index. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Passive Equity and Bond Funds vs. Active Equity and Bond Funds The popularity of passive investing through ETFs and index mutual funds has grown significantly since 2010. Image: Financial Times

Share of Global GDP Today, U.S. GDP contributes 23.9% of the world’s economic output. In 1960, U.S. GDP was 40% of global GDP. Image: Jeroen Blokland

World Sovereign Debt and Global Central Banks’ Holdings of Domestic Sovereign Debt Central Banks now own a high percentage of all global sovereign debt, leading to higher debt levels in coming years. Image: BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research

Quant Hedge Fund Performance vs. S&P 500 Does quant trading really work? 2019 was a tough year for quant hedge funds. Image: Bianco Research

U.S. Discretionary Spending and Recessions Because there are few imbalances, Deutsche Bank suggests that the U.S. expansion could continue for many more years. Note: discreationary spending defined as consumer durable goods, plus business capex, plus residential investment (i.e. PCE durables + gross private domestic investment). Image: Deutsche Bank Global Research

U.S. CEO Departures and S&P 500 Index It is not a good time to be a CEO. This year is on pace to have the most CEO departures on record, at rates not seen since the Great Financial Crisis. Image: Financial Times

The Most Valuable Companies by Market Capitalization This nice visualization puts into perspective the most valuable companies of all time. Image: howmuch.net

S&P 500 Median Daily Return by Year Interesting chart showing that the median daily return for some years are lower or higher than expected. The numbers in white show the annual return. Image: Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC

Market Performance: Q4 2018 vs. Q4 2019 Trade optimism and accommodative central bank monetary policy have contributed to market performance in Q4 2019. Image: Fidelity Investments