Corporate America impressed us this earnings season. Though S&P 500 Index companies have generated only 1–2% earnings growth compared with the year-ago quarter, we consider this an excellent result given the challenges companies faced in late 2019. The challenges...
Productivity is a key ingredient in keeping this aging economic cycle afloat, and a nice bounce in 2019’s fourth quarter productivity may be a step in the right direction. Ideally, we’d like to see the global economy stabilize and capital expenditures (capex) pick up...
Stocks in developed markets outside the United States have underperformed those in the United States almost without interruption for the last decade. While the long-lasting U.S. stock market dominance has us understandably cautious, we are warming up to international...
After a three-and-a-half-month, largely uninterrupted rally in stocks, the period of calm ended last week as the coronavirus outbreak led to a bout of volatility. Though it is difficult to predict when the virus will be contained and how many more lives might be lost,...
U.S. stocks have staged an impressive rally over the past few months. While we like seeing stocks rise, we’re starting to see signs of overbought conditions and stretched sentiment in market indicators we watch. We still believe in long-term fundamentals, but we think...
Earnings growth was largely absent in 2019, but we expect it to pick up in 2020. With stock valuations elevated, we think earnings hold the key to pushing stocks higher this year. We preview fourth quarter earnings season and share our thoughts on the outlook for...
