Research & News
Asset Allocation Weekly (October 2, 2020)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was yet another political shock for 2020 in a year rife with unusual events. The year began with the first official case of COVID-19 in Washington State on January 20. The pandemic and subsequent measures to contain the virus have led to unprecedented… Read More »
Weekly Energy Update (October 1, 2020)
by Bill O’Grady, Thomas Wash, and Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF Here is an updated crude oil price chart. The recent dip in prices remains, although we are seeing some recovery. Crude oil inventories fell when a build was expected. Commercial stockpiles declined 2.0 mb compared to forecasts of a 2.0 mb rise. The SPR… Read More »
The Case for Hard Assets: An Update (September 2020)
by Bill O’Grady & Mark Keller | PDF Background and Summary In this report, we use the term “commodities” to imply “hard assets.” In our definition, the latter is a commodity that requires multiple years to generate a supply response. This definition excludes agricultural commodities, which tend to create a supply response on an annual… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Erdoğan’s Leadership and the Turkey-Greece Dispute: Part I (September 28, 2020)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF When talking about international relations, it’s tempting to describe each country as a monolithic, rational decisionmaker with a settled set of concerns, goals, strategies, and tactics. Examples of such descriptions include: China wants to solidify its claim to the South China Sea; Russia is trying to undermine Western democracies;… Read More »
Asset Allocation Weekly (September 25, 2020)
by Asset Allocation Committee | PDF For more than a decade, U.S. investors who diversified their risk assets to include foreign equities have been sorely disappointed in the results. Since September 2010, for example, the S&P 500 Index of large cap U.S. stocks has provided an average annual total return of approximately 13.9%, but the… Read More »
Weekly Energy Update (September 24, 2020)
by Bill O’Grady, Thomas Wash, and Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF Here is an updated crude oil price chart. The recent dip in prices remains, although we are seeing some recovery. Crude oil inventories fell a bit less than expected. Commercial stockpiles declined 1.6 mb compared to forecasts of a 2.8 mb decline. The SPR… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – Meet Yoshihide Suga (September 21, 2020)
by Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, CFA | PDF Because of Japan’s enormous role in the world, investors need to pay attention whenever the country undergoes a change of leadership as it did last week. After all, Japan currently accounts for some 7% of global stock market capitalization and 6% of the world’s gross domestic product. Not bad… Read More »