27 Jan 2017

Posted at 13:21h in The Friday Brief by
Following the financial crisis of 2007-2008, in 2010, PIMCO CEO Mohamed A. El-Erian delivered a lecture entitled "Navigating the New Normal in Industrial Countries." The thrust of his talk was to warn investors, economists, and policy makers not to expect, as many did, economic growth to return to pre-crisis levels. The extent of damage done to the economy through an increasing drag of reactionary regulations and skyrocketing government debt, not to mention distrust of the system would take years, or decades to reverse.

24 Jun 2016

Posted at 11:09h in The Friday Brief by
The latest reminder of how divided we are around the world and how poorly our political systems understand and have adapted comes this morning as British citizens voted yesterday 52% to 48% to leave the European Union. The referendum itself was the result of a risky campaign pledge Prime Minister David Cameron made in order to gain re-election. He calculated the referendum was the only way he could placate anti-EU Conservatives in his party, while holding off the growing threat that the U.K Independence Party might fracture his majority in Parliament.

14 Mar 2003

Posted at 16:03h in The Friday Brief by
Hardly anyone would disagree with the premise that Mr. Market has been unusually emotional these past three years.  But the last couple of weeks have demonstrated just how emotional investors can get after a prolonged bear market.  The drone of bad news has been like a vise, applying increasing emotional pressure almost by the hour.  One negative development after another has pounded stock values down and risk-averse investments up.