Markets

Weekly Market Pulse: An Economic Overview

By |2024-03-18T07:43:45-04:00March 17th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Newsletter, Real Estate, Stocks|

Over the last two years, the evolution of the US economy has been driven by a return to “normal”. The distortions of the response to COVID had a profound impact on the economy that I believe will persist for many years. The change in cash levels at the household level were large and have proved more persistent than most expected. [...]

Market Morsels: The Best Contrarian Indicator

By |2024-03-18T07:45:30-04:00March 15th, 2024|Commodities|

Government investments rarely work out the way they are supposed to. From Solyndra to California's High Speed Rail project to the Big Dig to the UK government selling off gold at the lows at the turn of the century, governments just aren't very good at the investment thing. The UK gold selling incident is perhaps the best example of government [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Dare To Be Different

By |2024-03-11T08:01:35-04:00March 10th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Newsletter, Real Estate, Stocks|

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. Wayne Gretzky I took my wife to dinner Saturday night at a local, boutique hotel. The Willcox Hotel was established in the late 19th century to cater to the Winter Colony of wealthy northerners who spent their winters in South Carolina. Today it still caters to [...]

Market Morsel: Expectations Are Not Predictions

By |2024-03-09T09:16:12-05:00March 8th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Commodities, Currencies, Markets|

Longer term, I think there are more significant reasons to expect a weaker dollar, starting with our politicians’ (of both parties) newfound infatuation with industrial policy. Government-directed investment may create activity but long-lasting benefits have, in the past, proved quite elusive. The real problem with our government deficits and debt isn’t the debt itself but rather what the borrowed money [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Are We There Yet?

By |2024-03-04T12:11:45-05:00March 3rd, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Newsletter, Real Estate, Stocks|

How far can this rally go? Should we be locking in some gains? That's a paraphrase of questions I've been getting from clients recently. It does seem as if the stock market goes up every day and with all the ups and downs of the last few years, it is natural to wonder if we're about to get another bout [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Artificial Intelligence?

By |2024-02-26T10:33:46-05:00February 25th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Currencies, Markets, Newsletter, Stocks|

Nvidia reported earnings last week and they were, to be sober about it, incredible. Total revenue rose to $22.1 billion for the quarter,  up 22% from last quarter and 265% year-over-year. Data center revenue, which is what investors really ought to be watching with this company, was up 27% from last quarter and a whopping 409% year-over-year. Gross margins run [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Questions

By |2024-02-20T08:46:05-05:00February 20th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Are You Ready For The Roarin’ Twenties?

By |2024-02-12T06:55:50-05:00February 12th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Newsletter, Real Estate, Stocks|

When I sat down to write this week's commentary, my intention was to write - again - about the valuation of the stock market and particularly the S&P 500. And even more specifically about the top 20 stocks, which make up 42% of the index, and trade for an average forward P/E of 27.5. It is an expensive bet on [...]

Market Pulse: Skeptically Optimistic

By |2024-02-05T08:23:37-05:00February 5th, 2024|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Newsletter, Real Estate, Stocks|

The 10-year Treasury Note yield fell 13 basis points last week, a move that would not normally rate any mention whatsoever, but the path of that small decline does. From Monday to Thursday, the yield fell, from high to low, by 34 basis points, a move that added 1.3% to bond prices (Aggregate bond index) in four days. In a [...]

Market Morsels: Corporate Bond Issuance

By |2024-01-30T10:12:35-05:00January 30th, 2024|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Corporate bond issuance in January is at $176 billion with a few days to go. That's an all-time record for January and higher than any month last year. Last year's issuance was up 5.5% over the previous year. Net percentage of banks tightening lending standards appears to have peaked and rolled over. As I've noted about a few other items, [...]

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