How Does President Trump’s Twitter Use Impact the US Stock Market? Trump’s tweets exacerbate short-term volatility and can create unpredictable short-term market fluctuations. That’s the reason why Warren Buffett stays focused rightly on the long term. Image: Bloomberg
Why Trade Tensions Are Not Driving the U.S. Stock Market? Because many Unicorns are going public in the United States this year. Secondly, U.S. banks are healthier than ever and liquidity conditions are quite good in the U.S.. So all in all, that’s far more important than trade tensions. Image: Bloomberg
Tariffs Are a Hidden Tax on American Consumers and Companies Tariff man is back! Keep in mind that trade war costs to consumers and companies. Tariffs are a hidden tax on American consumers and US firms. Trump’s trade war hurts the U.S. economy and stocks.
Why Lower Bond Yields Influence the S&P 500? Because lower interest rates push stock market multiples higher. If interest rates are lower, then the value of future cash flows increases, because future cash flows are discounted back at a lower interest rate. So, lower U.S. 10-year yields influence the stock market equity risk premium. On the other…
Only 11% of Asset Classes Have Posted Negative Total Returns in 2019 The rally is back, but for how long? According to Deutsche Bank AG, 90% of 70 financial asset classes posted positive total returns. Data for 2019 are through April. Picture Source: The Wall Street Journal
Is U.S. Household Debt a Problem? Not really, right now. Actually, the level of household debt alone does not tell an accurate picture of the current situation. However, U.S. household debt to GDP is much lower, U.S. household debt service payments as a percent of disposable personal income and U.S. household financial obligations as a percent…
“Real Fed Rates Are the Most Accurate Predictor of Future S&P 500 Volatility,” Says SocGen SocGen says it is the most accurate predictor of S&P 500’s volatility over the last 50 years. Should investors be nervous about rising real interest rates? Yes, higher real interest rates mean higher borrowing costs. Real Fed funds rate is…
“U.S. Stock Market, No Froth In Sight” Says Stock Market Sentiment Index Keep in mind that it is just another investor sentiment tool. But it does not show at all if the US stock market is overvalued or undervalued. See our stock market valuation model (99% correlation and R² = 0.97 since 1970).
Worst Start to Year for Equity Flows since 2008 Even if the S&P 500 is up 18% to date (best start to a year since 1987), it is the worst start to year for equity fund flows since 2008.
U.S. Unemployment Rate at 3.6% in April 2019 This is the lowest level since 1969! Is this a sign of a booming economy? In any case, the U.S. economy does appear to be gaining momentum and that’s good news. See how the U.S. productivity has increased under Trump. Image: Hedgeye Risk Management LLC
U.S. Corporate Stock Buybacks Are Booming Since 2010! Thanks to tax cuts and low interest rates. What would happen if companies reinvested instead of buying their own shares? Unfortunately, artificially low interest rates are associated with unnecessary debt. See how corporate debt-to-GDP has increased since the Great Recession.