The Consumer Will Not Recover Quickly

Consumers who do not express confidence about economic prospects are likely to decrease their spending. Here in 2020, you’d have to go back to 1973’s ugly recession to find more discouraging data. In the 2020 U.S. economy, where consumers account for...

The Sickly Financial System

In 2008, we learned about the toxic debts on the books of financial firms. And for the most part, those toxic debts were synonymous with mortgage-backed securities. The financial sector via the SPDR Financial Sector ETF (XLF) weakened relative to the S&P 500...

When Lenders Tighten The Reins

Lenders continue tightening their belts. For example, it’s getting harder and harder to procure a jumbo mortgage loan, as its availability has cratered by 37%. Even if one qualifies for a jumbo, he/she will see higher rates than conventional loans for the first...

Is the Nasdaq Being Nasty?

The Nasdaq’s unique status grows curiouser and curiouser. Here in 2020, the market capitalization value for Nasdaq-listed stocks surpassed the collective value of ALL foreign shares in existence. It’s as if tech mania can do no wrong. During the raging...

‘The World is More Than 15% Screwed Up’

Howard Marks is a billionaire investor as well as the top dog at Oaktree Capital Management. He views April’s stock market rally as “inappropriately positive.” Mr. Marks specifically pointed to the worst pandemic in 100 years, extraordinary...