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Weekly Market Pulse: Dark Matter

By |2023-11-13T09:29:55-05:00November 13th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

It's the residual of all the stuff we can't explain. It's not that our models are wrong, it's the dark matter that's out there. - Fed Governor Neel Kashkari, referring to the "term premium" in long term Treasury yields The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Monetary Policy Is Hard

By |2023-11-05T21:30:33-05:00November 5th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

So, is that it? Have rates peaked? Is the long bear market finally over?  The market decided last week that interest rates have peaked for this cycle. And if rates have peaked then all the assets that have been pressured over the last two years can finally come up for air. Since October 18, 2021, over two years ago, investors [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Higher For Longer

By |2023-09-25T06:44:02-04:00September 24th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

"Higher for longer." That's what the Fed says they intend to do with interest rates and investors finally decided to believe them last week. Bond yields, which have been stagnant since peaking last October, finally broke above the trading range they've been in for all that time. Short-term rates also moved higher but not as dramatically and the result was [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Soft Landing?

By |2023-07-31T08:45:04-04:00July 31st, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

You've probably heard the phrase "soft landing" a lot lately. It has, over the last couple of months, become the new economic consensus. The economy continues to perform better than expected despite the Fed raising interest rates steadily - and fairly rapidly - over the last year. The most recent hike was just this past week and put the Fed [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Not Dead Yet

By |2023-05-01T08:36:20-04:00May 1st, 2023|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

Bring out your dead! CUSTOMER: Here's one. CART MASTER: Nine pence. DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead! CART MASTER: What? CUSTOMER: Nothing. Here's your nine pence. DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead! CART MASTER: 'Ere. He says he's not dead! CUSTOMER: Yes, he is. DEAD PERSON: I'm not! CART MASTER: He isn't? CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon. He's very ill. DEAD PERSON: I'm getting better! CUSTOMER: No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Perspective

By |2023-03-27T07:47:12-04:00March 26th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

There has been a lot of angst over the last couple of weeks about a potential banking crisis. There have been 4 failures so far: Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse. The first of these hasn't been mentioned much because it was primarily associated with lending in the crypto market and, as far as I know, there [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Been There, Done That

By |2023-03-20T07:51:06-04:00March 19th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

A bank's assets triple over a few years when interest rates are low. The bank invests those assets in long-term, higher-yielding municipal bonds with little credit risk. Inflation flares up and interest rates rise, reducing the value of the municipal bonds and funding dries up. Regulators become concerned that the failure of this bank could damage public confidence in the [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: What Moves Markets

By |2023-03-06T09:13:58-05:00March 5th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

With the 1-year Treasury bill paying 5%, why would anyone take the risk of owning stocks? - Everyone It is a good question and I can't tell you what investors will do this year or how stocks will perform, but history says it isn't the level of rates that matters for stock returns. Believe it or not, it isn't even [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Good News Is Good News

By |2023-02-27T07:23:06-05:00February 26th, 2023|Alhambra Portfolios, Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Real Estate, Stocks|

I think everyone can agree that stocks and bonds sold off last year because interest rates rose. You might get some argument about why rates rose but the fact they did is sufficient to explain the drop in stocks and bonds. It doesn't matter if you think rates went up because the Fed raised their target rate on Fed funds [...]

Questions

By |2023-02-07T12:28:27-05:00February 7th, 2023|Economy, Markets, Stocks|

Has the Fed's rate hiking campaign actually lowered inflation? Or would it have happened anyway? Jerome Powell has said that the rate hikes would involve "pain" but if that is the criteria I don't see it. Higher rates have hit the real estate market but almost nothing else. And even there, mortgage rates are now trending back down and activity [...]

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