News

Powell Successfully Walks the Tightrope January 11, 2022

Posted by Austin Mann in Economy, Markets, News

Below we highlight a few takeaways from Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s confirmation hearing today before the Senate Banking Committee, broken down by topic. -Focus on “less accommodative” moves -Powell made numerous statements indicating that COVID, though prevalent, will not be as pressing in policy decisions…

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Why the Fed Cut Rates by 50bps: Will it Help? March 03, 2020

Posted by Steven Vannelli, CFA in Economy, Markets, News

Despite the relief rally yesterday, financial conditions have tightened significantly in the last couple weeks. This likely explains why the Fed just made an emergency 50bps cut to the fed funds rate. The graph below highlights that the two main areas of weaker financial conditions…

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Mid-Quarter Update: Prognosis Negative February 28, 2020

Posted by Steven Vannelli, CFA in Markets, News

Widespread underperformance of Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks is a significant negative indicator for US stocks in our view. In this special report, we present charts of the 30 Dow stocks relative to long-duration US treasury bonds and gold for the last five years. Spoiler:…

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Ready for Action? February 24, 2020

Posted by Steven Vannelli, CFA in Economy, Markets, News

Former Fed Governor and now professor at the University of Rochester, Narayana Kocherlakota penned the following short opinion piece in Bloomberg this morning: Fed Shouldn’t Wait to Cut Interest Rates: Narayana Kocherlakota By Narayana Kocherlakota The world economy is facing a material risk in the…

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(VIDEO) Our Hidden Gem from Inside ETFs Last Week February 22, 2019

Posted by Knowledge Leaders Team in Knowledge Leaders, News

Last week we were selected as a “Hidden Gem” at the Inside ETF conference in Hollywood, Florida. Steven Vannelli gave a 3-minute pitch on our investment strategy. Here’s what he said. Knowledge Leaders Hidden Gems 3-min Pitch   “Hidden Gems” are 12 under-the-radar ETF ideas…

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Geopolitics Outlook 2019: Q&A with Peter Zeihan January 04, 2019

Posted by Knowledge Leaders Team in News

As the year ended with global unknowns and market uncertainties weighing on investors’ minds, we sat down with geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan to discuss his outlook for 2019. His top predictions included calls on Brexit, a US-Britain trade deal, China’s exit from world trade, new…

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What We’re Reading August 21, 2018

Posted by Knowledge Leaders Team in Economy, News

Recently we were asked about the latest books and ideas contributing to our economic analysis. Here’s an incomplete list of what we’ve been reading this summer. Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy  By Dani Rodrik A discussion of free trade and…

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Geopolitics Update: Trade War, Tariffs & the Coming Tech Implosion May 24, 2018

Posted by Knowledge Leaders Team in Economy, News

As the Trump administration’s on-again, off-again trade war with China continues to create uncertainty for investors, we sat down with geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan to learn more about the tariff program and what it could mean for the US economy. Similarly, we discussed the changing outlook…

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John Williams Takes the “Under” on Expected Rate Hikes May 22, 2018

Posted by Steven Vannelli, CFA in Economy, News

Yesterday John Williams, one of the newest members of the Federal Open Market Committee, wrote an article titled “The Future Fortunes of R-star: Are They Really Rising?” where he summarized his views on real neutral interest rates. He began with a short definition: “R-star is…

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Bitcoin Rebound Suggests US Dollar Bear to Return Soon May 03, 2018

Posted by Steven Vannelli, CFA in Markets, News

Bitcoin made a closing high on December 18, 2017 at $18,764 and then proceeded to fall to the closing low for the year, $6,604.48 on April 6, 2018. Since then, it has rebounded almost 50% to today’s level of $9,670, having broken back through the…

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