8 min readDOWNLOAD FULL REPORT Abstract The era of LIBOR (the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) is coming to an end. The rate, which underpins some $200 trillion in floating-rate bonds, loans, securitizations, and derivatives contracts, is broken—at least according to the international regulatory community. In the U.S., this has led to the introduction of SOFR (the Secured…
5 min readBrexit has been delayed until Halloween, a fitting deadline for what has turned into a three-year nightmare for the British populace. UK Prime Minister Theresa May had pushed for a shorter extension, out until the end of June, in hopes that the UK would not have to participate in the upcoming EU elections. However, it…
26 min readDOWNLOAD FULL REPORT Abstract With the March 29th deadline for the UK to leave the European Union looming, there is still no decision about how the departure will be managed. In the two years since a referendum forced the UK government to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty indicating their intention to leave the…
12 min readCo-authored by: Spyros Qendro, CFA Abstract The past few years have been predictable for investors, with an expanding economy accompanied by steadily rising interest rates and asset prices. In this two-part series, we look at some recent developments and their implications for the current environment. In part one, we look at recent equity market volatility,…
4 min readAbstract Trade tensions between the U.S. and China have been making headlines recently. The Trump administration recently rolled out plans to place 25% tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, to which China responded in kind. In the near-term, tensions may continue to escalate, but ultimately a negotiated settlement is in the best interests of…
4 min readAbstract Jerome Powell is the new Chair of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) following Janet Yellen’s retirement from the Fed. In the near-term, Powell is likely to continue on the projected path of gradual interest rate hikes while also focusing on transparency and deregulation. However, as his background is not in economics, he will…
8 min readAmongst the numerous debates happening up on Capitol Hill, one that’s slipped under the radar is related to financial regulatory reform. On June 8th, with the whole of the country’s attention fixated on former FBI Director James Comey, the House of Representative passed the Financial CHOICE Act along party lines. The bill aims to rollback…
5 min readPerhaps no word better describes the start of 2017 than “transition.” The year began with the White House’s transition from the Obama to the Trump administration, continued with the rise of European populism, and recently culminated in the official beginning of Britain’s transition out of the European Union. Somewhat less noticeably, change is also taking…
3 min readAs stocks soar to record highs, it seems as though the decline in long bond yields has been endless. Less than a year after the Federal Reserve saw economic conditions sufficient to warrant the first rate hike in almost a decade, rates on long-term U.S. Treasury bonds now lie at near-record low levels (with the…
3 min readAs we approach the first rate hike cycle in almost a decade, it makes sense for cash investors to take stock of the state of the economy, as well as the Fed’s view of it. The pace at which the Fed raises interest rates will be important to anyone managing a cash portfolio, and close…