What Indicators to Watch for Signs a U.S. Recession Is Coming? 1) In recent history, a recession occurs about 12 to 18 months after the spread between the 30-year and the 3-month treasury yields turns negative (red arrow). When an inverted yield curve occurs, short-term interest rates exceed long-term rates. It suggests that the long-term…
Stocks Performance Across Interest Rate Environments This chart shows the excess return over S&P 500 in terms of rising and falling interest rates. Image: Greenline Partners LLC
What About the Predictive Power of the Fed? As former Fed policymaker Narayana Kocherlakota said in 2016: “Don’t rely on FOMC forecasts of future fed funds rates.” Why? Because the economy is often shaken by crises and does not evolve as expected. Image: Hedgeye Risk Management LLC
The Credit Cycle Is Leading the Economic Cycle This great chart shows that an economic slowdows risk is rising. When delinquency rates on consumer loans reach a low, there’s a high probability of a recession on the horizon. Image: Deutsche Bank Global Research
The Amount of Outstanding Negative-Yielding Debt since 2009 Investors are paying governments for the privilege of holding their bonds and are losing so much money in real terms. Raising interest rates in the future could be painful for bond investors. Image: Jeroen Blokland, Bloomberg
“Ken Fisher: Thinking in Ways That Others Do Not, with John Tamny” Great interview of Ken Fisher on: coastal redwoods, dikes and climate change, efficient markets, quantitative easing (QE) vs. inflation, humans as a group are slow to learn, recessions, Fed and interest rates, why philanthropy is bad and immoral, and why inequality is a good…
One of the Best Yield Curves to Predict a Recession is Coming The spread between the 30-year and the 3-month treasury yields is one of the best recession signal of all the yield spreads. In recent history, a recession occurs about 12 to 18 months after the yield curve inverts. When an inverted yield curve…
Why Albert Einstein Said “Compound Interest Is the Eighth Wonder of the World” If you invest $3000 per year from 10 years before you turn 30, you would earn more money when you turn 70 than if you invest $3000 per year from 30 until 70. That’s the power of compounding, because the amount earned…
Why Lower Bond Yields Influence the S&P 500? Because lower interest rates push stock market multiples higher. If interest rates are lower, then the value of future cash flows increases, because future cash flows are discounted back at a lower interest rate. So, lower U.S. 10-year yields influence the stock market equity risk premium. On the other…
U.S. Corporate Stock Buybacks Are Booming Since 2010! Thanks to tax cuts and low interest rates. What would happen if companies reinvested instead of buying their own shares? Unfortunately, artificially low interest rates are associated with unnecessary debt. See how corporate debt-to-GDP has increased since the Great Recession.