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   Investment Thoughts - Archives

 

2018 Observations

 

 

 

US Banks Haven’t Behaved Like This Since 2009
If there is one thing Ben Bernanke got right, it was this.
Jeffrey P. Snider, Alhambra Investment Partners, December 11, 2018

 

The Coffee Chronicles

"Once again, these are just facts, and facts are never powerful enough vis-à-vis theories about war and what we want to believe."
Stephen Kotkins, Dartmouth, 1917 Centennial Series: War, Revolution, Socialism, War. October 2017

 

Economics Is Easy When You Don’t Have To Try 
The real question is why no one says anything. They can continue to make these grossly untrue, often contradictory statements without fear of having to explain themselves. Don’t even think about repercussions. Even in front of politicians ostensibly being there on behalf of the public, pedigree still matters more than results.
Jeffrey P. Snider, Alhambra Investment Partners, December 7, 2018

 

 

Factor-based investing – the third pillar
In our first white paper on factor-based fund management, we would like to give interested investors an insight into the history and current characteristics of this asset management approach. Read more...
Dr. Carsten Große-Knetter, Thierry Misamer,  ODDO BHF Asset Management, November 2018

 

Faktorbasiertes Investieren als dritte Säule
In unserem ersten White Paper zum faktor-basierten Fondsmanagement möchten wir interessierten Anlegern einen Einblick geben in die Geschichte und aktuellen Merkmale dieses Ansatzes der Vermögensverwaltung. Weiterlesen…
Dr. Carsten Große-Knetter, Thierry Misamer,  ODDO BHF Asset Management, November 2018

 

Does the Yield Curve Really Forecast Recession ?
It's well known that in the United States recessions are often preceded by an inversion of the yield curve. Is there any economic rationale for this?
David Andolfatto, Andrew Spewak, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, November 30th, 2018

 

Labor Force Participation Rates, 25-54 year old
A Strong Economy – But We Can Aim Higher. Remarks by MARY C. DALY President and CEO Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco To the Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho (REDI), November 12, 2018


The financial and business cycles in the United States
"Put differently, calendar time might not be the best way to compare cycles over time."

Andrew Filardo, Marco Lombardi and Marek Raczko, BIS Working Papers, Measuring Financial Cycle Time, 7 November 2018

 

 

Globale Renten, Währungsmanagement und Indexbenchmarks

In den Portfolios der Investoren lässt sich in nahezu allen Regionen der Welt trotz des Fortschreitens der Globalisierung auch über die letzten Jahrzehnte ein ausgeprägter „Home Bias“ nachweisen, eine Bevorzugung von Investments in die Kapitalanlagen des Heimatlandes, auch wenn diese Anlagen unter Risiko-Ertrags- Aspekten oder Risikokonzentrationskriterien selten optimal sind. Weiterlesen...
Werner Krämer, Lazard Asset Management, November 2018

 

Aktualisierung zu Indexbenchmarks für Emerging Markets Debt
Die politische Diskussion hat sich seit der Finanzmarktkrise 2008 stark auf die Themen “Sparen” und “Austerität” fokussiert. Insbesondere in Europa, aber auch in den USA und in vielen Emerging Markets wurde vermehrt festgestellt, dass „man nur das ausgeben kann, was man vorher auch eingenommen hat“. Weiterlesen...
Werner Krämer, Lazard Asset Management, Oktober 2018

 

Quote on
the Fly

"So when the majority of volume in the market is traded by people who do not care about fundamentals, what is that fundamentally mean for the stock market ? It is a pretty scary thought, right ?"

Brad Katsuyama, The Stock Market had become an Illusion, March 26, 2016

 

The Coffee Chronicles

 

"I have several theories about things and stuff.

My theory about evolution: Darwin was adopted!"

Steven Wright, Wicker Chairs and Gravity, 1990

 

The history (and future) of inflation
It may not feel like it, but we live in inflationary times relative to long-term history.
Jim Reid, Craig Nicol, Nick Burns, Sahil Mahtani, Deutsche Bank, September 19, 2018

 

 

Do stocks outperform Treasury bills?

"All of the wealth creation can be attributed to the thousand top-performing stocks, while the remaining 96 percent of stocks collectively matched one-month T-bills."

Prof. Hendrik Bessembinder, Francis J. and Mary B. Labriola, Arizona State University, W. P. Carey School of Business, May 2018


The ECB’s QE End Is Bullish
Closing the chapter on QE is bullish—not bearish—for investors, in our view.
Fisher Investments MarketMinder, November 8, 2018

 

Why French Investors are Truly les Misérables
"Over a 100-year period, French investors would have lost over 90% of their money after inflation no matter how they invested their money."
Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, 17 April 2017

 

Can banks individually create money out of nothing? — The theories and the empirical evidence
This study establishes for the first time empirically that banks individually create money out of nothing. The money supply is created as ‘fairy dust’ produced by the banks individually, "out of thin air".
Richard A. Werner, International Review of Financial Analysis, December 2014

 

What do rising rates mean for international investments?
Brian Levitt, OFI Global Asset Management, October 11, 2018 

Do we still believe interest rates will remain low for long? 
Brian Levitt, OFI Global Asset Management, October 11, 2018

 

Notes on The Bitcoin Standard
"Bitcoin, as designed, is deflationary."
Michael Kendall, Man on the Margin, July 16, 2018

 

American Default

The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court, and the Battle over Gold.
Sebastian Edwards, Princeton University Press, May 2018

 

The Coffee Chronicles

“In the depth of your ignorance, what is it that you want?"

 

Orson Welles getting frustrated with some studio personnel as he attempts to narrate some badly written commercials that he clearly finds quite annoying. Obscure Audio 2: Orson Welles Outtakes - Frozen Peas, 1970

 

Asian currencies vs. Yuan, rebased at 100 on 31.12.2013

Charles Gave, Guerre Commerciale Chine/ Etats-Unis, Institut des Libertés, October 7 2018

 

Why Financial Institutions Struggle to Modernize…and Why They Have to
Prattle is pleased to publish this interview with Zac Sheffer, CEO and Founder of Elsen, focusing on the modernization of financial institutions and the future of data in finance.

Prattle, February 7, 2018 
 

Quote on
the Fly

Shadow Risk in Passive Investing
"The shift from active to passive investing is a significant amplifier of future volatility."

Read more...

Christopher Cole, Founder and CIO of Artemis Capital, Volatility and the Alchemy of Risk, Reflexivity in the Shadows of Black Monday 1987, October 2017

 

 

 

 

Pension Funds Switzerland 2018
For institutional investors only


 

Public Pension Funds

 

Corporate Pension Funds

 

Industry-Wide Pension Funds

 

Multi-Employer Pension Funds

 

 

Seismic waves
Seismic waves are waves of energy that travel through the Earth's layers. What would be the equivalent in today's markets?
Investment Office, September 2018

 

Bloomberg: Prattle Analysis Shows Men Speak 92% of Time on Earnings Calls
Prattle, September 18, 2018

 

 

 

A Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

"My favorite part of the book is the section, starting on p.244, on bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics that have not yet been invented."
Greg Van Kipnis, Daily Speculations, September 16, 2018

 

Pension asset allocation
Aggregate P7 asset allocation from 1998 to 2017

 

Willis Towers Watson, Global Pension Assets Study 2018, February 2018

 

 

The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo has numerous financial data and speculations in it that shows that during the Napoleonic years there was active speculations.
Victor Niederhoffer, Daily Speculations, September 16, 2018

 

 

The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns
Annual Returns for Key Indices Ranked in Order of Performance (1998–2017)

Callan Associates Inc., 2018

 

 

The Coffee Chronicles

“But it was really difficult to explain our needs and for them to get their head around what we are doing, or even have an interest in doing something in low volume. So that meant we had to develop it ourselves.”

Christian Van Koenigsegg, The Drive, November 2016

 

 

Asset Class Returns in Swiss Francs (2008 - 2017)

Dr. Alex Hinder, Hinder Asset Management, 2018

 

 

 

The Oxymoron of World Trade
Oxymorons are powerful combinations of contradictory meanings. We encounter oxymorons in every human form of expression attempting a description of reality, whether it be in works of tragedy (“fearful bravery” in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar), in our daily lives (work that is “almost done”), or even in the projected future of human societies (“artificial intelligence”).
Didier Darcet, Gavekal Intelligence Software, The Quant Corner, September 2018

 

Information in the Yield Curve about Future Recessions
"Furthermore, when interpreting the yield curve evidence, one should keep in mind the adage “correlation is not causation.”
Michael D. Bauer and Thomas M. Mertens, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Economic Letter, August 27, 2018

 

 

Chart of the Month: Gold in Turkish Lira (TRY)

1875 CIO Office, Current Views, 1875 Finance, August 2018

 

General Electric: The Fallen Giant
"General Electric’s decline has been steady during the 21st century. In 2000, GE’s market cap was over $500 billion and as recently as 2005, General Electric was the largest company in the world. Since then, GE has lost over $400 billion in market cap, and today, GE doesn’t even make the top 50 in the world."
Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, 22 June 2018

 

Consumers Response More to negative News than Positive Info
"The laboratory provides insight into how cognitively taxing it can become for people exposed to changes in the economic landscape to acquire and process information."
Antonella Tutino, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Economic Letter, Volume 13, Number 7, May 2018

 

Quote

on the Fly

 

“It is better for the Bank of Japan not to attract attention and remain as quiet as the forest for a rural shrine.”
Hisato Ichimada, Governor of the Bank of Japan, 1946-1954

 

 

The Coffee Chronicles

"An era does not just create technology. Technology creates the era."

W. Brian Arthur, The Nature of Technology, 2009

 

Neurosis Is Killing Your Returns!
Short-term volatility is the psychological price investors pay to achieve stocks’ high historical long-term returns.
Michael Hanson, Fisher Investments MarketMinder, 14/06/2018

 

Memory Sticks!
Didier Darcet, Gavekal Intelligence Software, The Quant Corner, June 2018

 

 

 

Quote

on the Fly

 

“In a dataset of 10 developed countries for the period 1890-2000, we show that diversification benefits decline as financial markets open up to international capital flows. Diversification benefits disappear as investors chase them." Dennis Quinn and Hans-joachim Voth, The Diversification Fata Morgana: Capital Account Openness and the Fall and Rise of Stock Market Correlations, 1890-2000 , 2015

 

 

The Coffee Chronicles

"Villager: How can we find a samurai we can pay with only rice?

Gisaku: Find hungry samurai."

Akira Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai, 1954

 

A monopoly on liquidity
"The board game Monopoly® was originally invented by Elizabeth Magie, under the name “The Landlord’s Game”, as a means of demonstrating the evils of rentier capitalism. Originally, there were two sets of rules — essentially, socialism (where the rewards for development were shared by all) and capitalism (where the rewards accrue to the monopolist, who crushes all opponents) — the purpose being to show the moral superiority of the first set."
Erik Britton, Fathom Consulting, 16 March 2018


 

The Russian Stock Market Before the Revolution
"Russian stocks advanced more in price than American stocks between 1864 and 1914, but American companies paid larger dividends. Price and dividends offset each other and during that 45-year period, the two stock markets provided approximately equal returns."

Dr. Brian Taylor, Global Financial Data, 21 March 2018

 

 

Understanding inflation and its impact on your portfolio
Thanks to globalization, technological advances, monetary policy and demographic trends, inflation in most developed economies has been moderate in recent decades. However, a continuation of this benign inflationary environment is by no means certain, as evidenced by a recent White Paper released by Mercer Investments Research highlighting the growing inflationary pressure.

By Gil Platteau, Country Head Switzerland, Mercer Investments.  More...

 

 

Lonely Bytes – Cryptocurrencies & The Future of Money:
A New Technology Solution Desperately Seeking A Problem?
Michael Howell, CrossBorder Capital, March 13, 2018

 

 

The Coffee Chronicles

"And the real problem is, in my opinion, that as we move, from the local community to the State, from the State to the Federal Government, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to control the mechanism we have established, and that mechanism tends to control us." Milton Friedman, in 1978, Free To Choose Network, May 22, 2012

 

 


 

 

 

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