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28th September
Is the US Dollar Fading as the World’s Dominant Currency? (Conversable Economist) Runs through FX reserve, OTC trading and SWIFT data and finds that dollar remains the dominant currency.
Structured Finance Then and Now: A Comparison of CDOs and CLOs (BIS) Just as CDO’s declined after 2008, Collateralised Loan Obligations (CLOs), which are pools of high risk loans, have exploded in popularity. They are less complex and more transparent than CDOs, but could create systemic risk through prime brokerage channels and liquidity risk.
Business Cycles and Currency Returns (Colacito, Riddiough, Sarno) Academic paper finds buying currencies of strong economies and selling currencies of weak economies delivers high investment returns.
Modelling Yields at the Lower Bound Through Regime Shifts (BIS) Authors build an interest rate forecasting model that switches between a “normal” interest rate regime and “lower bound” regime. This better predicts recent rates dynamics and outperforms “shadow rate” models.
Financial Market Risk Perceptions and the Macroeconomy (Harvard) Authors build a risk perceptions measure based on the price of volatile stocks minus the price of low-volatility stocks. When risk perceptions are high then bonds outperform.
20th September
Recent market behaviour shows how much we just can’t predict – we have a bunch of articles that play on this theme whether on timing market crashes, day trading or the Fed’s ability to control rates. We also find cracks in some of the darling investment themes of the day – platforms. They’re being disrupted one-by-one.
Yes, the Stock Market is Going to Crash (A Wealth Of Common Sense) We know markets will crash, but the problem is no-one knows when. Metrics like valuations and yield gave poor signals in the 1940s, mid-1970s and early 1980s. Moreover, we could have a long stretch like 1938-1972 without a major crash (as opposed to a 20% correction).
As Long as Trump Tweets His Way Randomly through the Trade War, the Dollar Will Stay Strong (Econbrowser) Trump tweets = more trade uncertainty = dollar rallies on uncertainty
Repo Chaos Tests Wall Street Confidence in NY Fed’s Williams (Reuters) John Williams who runs the NY Fed has lost some key staff recently, which have contributed to this week’s repo debacle. Some are questioning his position.
Day Trading for a Living? (Chague, De Losso, Giovannetti) Academic paper crunch the numbers on day traders in Brazil and finds 97% lost money. They find no evidence that day traders learn with experience.
Platforms vs Verticals and the Next Great Unbundling (Andreessen Horowitz) Excellent piece that argues broad platforms like eBay, LinkedIn and YouTube risk being disrupted by narrow platforms that target narrow verticals like StubHub, Hired, and TikTok.
13th September
Explaining the Demise of Value Investing (Lev and Srivastava, academic paper) Clever paper that captures internally-generated intangible asset growth and adds back to book value. This improves the returns of value strategies
More on Low Long-Term Interest Rates (The Grumpy Economist) Argues that stable inflation should lead to an inverted yield curve much like the late 19th century.
Fat Tails, But Which Way? Up or Down? (Mish Talk) Makes the case that we may not see extreme market moves, but rather choppy declines.
A Crash Course On the Euro Crisis (Brunnermeier, Princeton) Excellent educational resources that runs through various factors behind financial crises from capital inflows to shadow banking.
The Best and Worst Case Scenarios for Bonds from Here (A Wealth Of Common Sense) Shows a strong correlation between starting bond yields and subsequent 5y returns and so although bonds have performed well recently – their long-term performance is likely to be poor.
6th September
Asset Allocation Outlook Midyear Update – Easing Into Slowing Growth (PIMCO, 9 min read) Equities: overweight US, underweight Europe, neutral the rest. Rates: long US and EM rates and linkers, neutral rest. Credit: long securitised (MBS) and EM, short IG and HY. FX: Short USD and EUR, long JPY and EM.
“Big Short” Investor Michael Burry Explains How Index Funds Will Trigger The Next Crash (Zero Hedge, 5 min read) Argues passive funds are removing price discovery from equity markets and over-promising liquidity. Likes small caps (under-represented in passive funds) and Japan stocks (owned by BoJ)
From FOMO to FONIR (Dr Ed’s Blog, 3 min read) Ed Yardeni reports back from recent client meetings and finds investors are favouring stocks on FONIR (fear of negative interest rates)
A Perspective on Secular Bull and Bear Markets (Jill Mislinkski, 4 min read) Looks at secular bull and bear markets in US equities. Finds that secular bear years make up 40% of years, that current rally looks extended and the ratio of peak earners to elderly population is turning down. Bearish stocks.
Fed Easing Sees Defensive Stocks Come Out on Top (Variant Perception, 1 min read) Over the last five Fed easing cycles consumer staples, healthcare and energy provide the highest average total return above the index one year after the Fed’s first cut (see chart). Financials and utilities the worst.
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