Welcome back, folks. Today, it’s all about cloud and blockchain, but no cannabis. Also: tech earnings, Trump can’t make a deal, and corporate debt.
A generation of investors has Paul Volcker to thank for almost 40-years of slowly falling rates. He handed countless baby-boomers a free 100 points of investing IQ, for which most never thanked him. It was as good as it gets.
More than ever I can hear the approaching hoofbeats of the Fourth Horseman – a regime change in inflation expectations. The hooves are still distant, and you’ll have more bites at the portfolio-preparation apple as global growth concerns in China and Europe persist. But prepare you should.
The gyre widens again, and if we are not careful, it will force us into positions that require us to deny the basic humanity of our fellow citizens. Reject it.
Another big earnings week across banks, insurance, energy services, staples, transports and other industrials.
We asset owners and allocators (rightfully) obsess about alignment, but too often that obsession becomes an outward one, motivated by our rights and entitlements instead of our ultimate best interest.
Today it’s Morgan Stanley, the price of rice, Morgan Stanley, the art of AI and a bit more Morgan Stanley.
Modern Monetary Theory is neither modern nor a theory. It’s a post hoc rationalization of politically expedient policy that makes us feel better about all the bad stuff we’ve done with money and debt in service to Team Elite.
And all the bad stuff we’re going to do in the future.
The Zeitgeist for January 17th: China, ‘no inflation’, advice from Bogle, and another day, another cannabis headline.
ET Live! is now in the books for January, but you can catch the replay here.