Monthly Commentaries

Aug 12, 2020

“My new normal is to continually get used to new normals.” Anonymous The natural progression in economics is for an ‘unprecedented’ crisis to be followed by a ‘new normal’. The old modes and...

Jul 13, 2020

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience” George Bernard Shaw We begin our commentary in the most unimaginative way...

Jun 9, 2020

“Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you” Stealers Wheel The ‘middle’ can conjure up negative images and connotations: mediocrity, compromise, the...

May 8, 2020

“There’ll be ups and downs, smiles and frowns.” Snoop Dogg Last month we noted that one of the greatest commodities right now is patience (apologies to the ‘gold bugs’). After all, the road to...

Apr 8, 2020

“All we need is just a little patience.” Guns N’ Roses First and foremost, we hope that you and your family are safe, healthy, and coping well during these difficult times. One of the most...

Mar 9, 2020

“It’s a mess, ain’t it, Sheriff?” “If it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here.” No Country for Old Men A big and often underappreciated part of any epidemic is fear. The basic emotion (Eckman...

Feb 7, 2020

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston S. Churchill While our newborn, Fixed Income 2.0, has been getting a lot of attention lately, it...

Jan 9, 2020

“We have long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune-tellers look good.” Warren Buffet Our minds inherently loathe uncertainty. Not knowing what to expect is unnerving...

Dec 10, 2019

“It was time to raise the bar higher, or lower if you’re doing limbo.” Frank Edwin Wright III (Tre Cool) In limbo, the bar has been set, or more appropriately lowered, to an astonishing height of...

Nov 13, 2019

“If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.” Ramsay Bolton In the game of thrones, you win, or you die. In the game of loans, death is unlikely, but great pain and...

Oct 9, 2019

“If you consider the contribution of plumbing to human life, the other sciences fade into insignificance.” James P. Gorman (CEO Morgan Stanley) The repo market is often referred to as the plumbing...

Sep 10, 2019

“I think people make way too much of ratings.” Walter Cronkite Last month we asked when was the last time you gave an Uber driver less than five stars. The question segued into an examination of...