Executive Summary: Another day, another tariff target. President Trump’s news Tuesday that new tariffs on imports of semiconductors are coming soon got a muted negative reaction from semiconductor companies’ investors, who on the whole have been tolerant of Trump’s

Executive Summary: The US housing market is haunted by poor affordability, Melissa reports; that’s why sales have been moribund despite supportive household wealth and income statistics. Would-be buyers are spooked by affordability challenges, and would-be sellers are averse to

Executive Summary: Trump’s pivot on India from friend to foe, punctuated by a higher US tariff rate than expected, hit India watchers by surprise. Trump’s dismissal of the country’s importance to the West hurts Prime Minister Modi politically and

Executive Summary: Yes, payroll employment rose less than expected in July, and, yes, revisions pegged it lower than initially thought during May and June. That doesn’t mean demand for labor has slacked off, as the extreme reactions of the

Executive Summary: The Health Care sector is the S&P 500’s most anemic performer ytd. But its downtrodden valuation might leave lots of room for upside on the slightest good news. And some of its component industries aren’t ailing at all.

Executive Summary: While many European officials rue the US/EU trade deal struck last weekend, others accept it as the least bad of the EU’s options. One important benefit, William explains, is that it clears the uncertainty that’s been clouding the

Executive Summary: Japan’s Bond Vigilantes are riling the historically placid Japanese government bond market. Demand for JGBs has tanked, and now the risk of a destabilizing yield curve is likely to stay the Bank of Japan’s hand at its meeting

Executive Summary: Halfway through the decade, our Roaring 2020s investment theme remains on track. The US economy continues to prove remarkably resilient, supported by the robust spending of businesses and consumers, especially Baby Boomers. So far this year, it has

Executive Summary: Tariffs and a resilient economy have helped boost many metals’ prices. Jackie looks at how that has helped steel producers and other companies that are able to pass along the higher prices to customers. Not all companies are

Executive Summary: One of the perks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is 100% bonus depreciation. Melissa analyzes why this tax break might have less of a macroeconomic impact than some anticipate. Bonus depreciation changes when an asset is expensed, not

Executive Summary: President Donald Trump reversed course and allowed Nvidia to resume sales of its H20 chips into China. Could this change of heart indicate that the President is willing to bend on other trade matters as well? William explores

Executive Summary: Like Blanche DuBois, the US Treasury has been dependent on the kindness of strangers, particularly foreign investors. Doomsters warn that foreign investors are losing their confidence in US Treasuries and in the US dollar. Yet, the Treasury’s latest

Executive Summary: The big banks reported strong earnings, but most of their stocks have struggled to keep up—perhaps because the good news is already priced in. Restructurings in recent years at Citigroup and Wells Fargo may give both banks new

Executive Summary: Japanese bond yields have risen to their highest in decades as monetary policies and fiscal initiatives conflict at a time rife with uncertainties related to the nation’s elections and US tariffs. William discusses the forces that are rousing

Executive Summary: The BRICS has expanded well beyond the original four developing nations that the bloc was named for, but it hasn’t gained might in the process. On the contrary, says William, bulking up has backfired, putting the BRICS’ aspirations

Executive Summary: We had expected that Trump’s Tariff Turmoil would have subsided by now, and investors probably assumed the same since the financial markets have been so okay with it all in recent weeks. But the resilience of the economy,

Executive Summary: Banks and brokerages are beneficiaries of Trump 2.0 policies, particularly the reduced regulations they’ll be bound by. The S&P 500’s Investment Banking & Brokerage industry and its Diversified Banks industry have record-high earnings expectations and the ytd share

Executive Summary: Digital currencies are coming, but the US and China are taking opposite stances on the form they’ll take. Trump favors stablecoins issued by private-sector companies and forbids the US from pursuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Xi

Executive Summary: The labor market has held up well in the face of Trump’s Tariff Turmoil, and the financial markets were cheered by June’s higher-than-expected payroll employment. But Ed sees more weakness than strength June’s employment report. The fact that

Executive Summary: President Trump is determined to lower the interest paid on government debt one way or the other. One way is replacing Fed Chair Powell with a Trump loyalist who tries to convince the rest of the FOMC that

Executive Summary: While Americans have been traveling a lot and by all modes available, the flight paths of travel industries’ stock indexes so far this year are all over the map. Jackie explores what’s up—and down. … Also: The S&P

Executive Summary: Monetary authorities around the world are stocking their national reserves with gold, driving up the metal’s price. De-dollarization is on the agendas of nations that are US adversaries for sure. The move to gold started after the US

Executive Summary: When Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill passes, it will likely make deficits larger and increase the debt over the next 10 years. The US bond market hasn’t been batting an eye. Was former US Vice President Dick Cheney right

Executive Summary: Though the stock market is back on record-high ground after a couple of big worries have dissipated, investors remain wary, sentiment readings show. Slowing economic activity has ascended to the top of their worry list. Today, Dr Ed

Executive Summary: Aircraft-related stock prices have been soaring recently, making the S&P 500 Industrials sector the number-one performer this year to date among the index’s 11 sectors. Jackie examines the reasons and highlights some of the sector’s standout industries and

Executive Summary: Asian economies dodged a Strait of Hormuz closure after the US bombed Iran’s three major nuke sites on Saturday, June 21. Most of the oil and gas passing through the Strait—which Iran won’t be closing in retaliation for

Executive Summary: Yes, Trump’s tariffs are hurting China’s economy, but a bigger damper on GDP growth is anemic consumer spending, William reports. China is experiencing deflation and exporting it to the rest of the world. President Xi has tried to

Executive Summary: Saturday night, American bombers obliterated three key nuclear sites in Iran. We think Iran won’t retaliate and will sue for peace. … Meanwhile in the US, foreign tourists might not be crowding the airports as usual. If Trump’s

Executive Summary: The escalation of war in the Middle East has caused oil prices to spike and thrown prior oil price forecasts out the window. Jackie takes a look at the dynamics affecting oil pricing in light of the recent

Executive Summary: Much ink has been spilled on the Magnificent-7 stocks’ outsized influence over the S&P 500’s performance given the group’s huge share of the index’s capitalization. Are other stock markets of the world similarly weighed down (or buoyed up)