IPO Frenzy Coming to an End The benchmark index has corrected 7.4% from its peak in January 2018. Mirroring the subdued market sentiments of the broader indices, IPOs too have not performed well. Of the eleven IPOs we have covered since the beginning of 2018, seven are in the red zone. The expensive valuation is…
I was having a chat about Artificial Intelligence (AI) in banking the other day. It was an interesting conversation, although most of the examples were for customer service via Chatbots, which doesn’t impress me much. I know that systems like Erica, short for Bank of AmErica, are up and running to make life easier, but…
The Turkish lira is in trouble again. Last week, USD/TRY hit an all-time high amid more dire headlines for the Turkish economy and the monetary policy of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT). On April 3rd, Bloomberg reported the following issues: 7.4% GDP growth in 2017 is overheating the economy. Turkish companies…
Danielle Town’s “12-month plan to financial freedom,” Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (William Morrow, 2018), written with help from her bestselling author father Phil Town, is much better than the search-tag-filled subtitle would lead one to believe. The setup is this: Danielle…
The business services sector is usually directly proportional to the broader economy, which is currently quite favorable. A rise in GDP, an improving employment scenario, inflation approaching 2%, easing of the U.S. dollar and momentum in oil prices are all signs of improvement in the U.S. economy, which in turn should boost the business service…
Last week’s blog, The Alerian Problem, drew a bigger than average response. It led to a useful dialogue with sell-side analysts and investors. The shift from MLP to corporate ownership of energy infrastructure is becoming widely acknowledged. Since the FERC announcement in early March disallowing MLPs from including imputed tax expense in setting certain tariffs,…
The Australian dollar closed lower for the fourth week in a row but did not record new lows for a change. Is it ready to recover? A speech by Phillip Lowe is the main event in a busy week. Here are the highlights of the week and an updated technical analysis for AUD/USD. The Reserve Bank…
The three ministers responsible for representing their respective countries during the seemingly never-ending NAFTA talks (what round of talks is this, anyway? Third? Fourth? We forget…) met in Washington on Friday for a last-minute push toward the elusive “agreement in principle” that President Trump had hoped to unveil at this week’s pan-American summit in Lima,…
The future is tantalizing because it is both unknown and unknowable. At best, we can make educated guesses about tomorrow or next year. Sometimes, it’s actually hard to understand what happened in the past, much less to chart how the future might unfold. The problem is that some guesses are more educated than others, and…
Repercussions – Fed Chairman Powell’s realistic and balanced assessment on credit and rate plans, along with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s very diplomatic way of handling gotcha-type questions in an extended interview; only briefly swayed the market to rebound; before succumbing and moving to newer lows for the session. Do know that the market did NOT hold…
