Essentials

Bank Credit Analyst

Bank Credit Analyst

In Section I, we discuss why the rally in stock prices over the past month reflects the soft-landing view, and why that is not a likely economic outcome. US inflation is slowing, but target inflation remains elusive. Meanwhile, cracks in the US labor market are already apparent, and there is strong evidence against the view that US stocks are appropriately priced for an eventual US recession. This underscores that conservative investment positioning is still warranted. In Section II, we check in on the indebtedness risk of several major economies, and examine whether these risks exist primarily in the household, nonfinancial corporate, or government sectors. While there are limited cyclical implications of recent trends in global indebtedness, there are several problems that will eventually “come home to roost” – particularly in the US and China.

Bank Credit Analyst

An important annual event is when long-time client Mr. X visits BCA strategists at the end of each year to talk about the economic and financial outlook and a write-up of the discussion is published as our Annual Outlook report. Recently, BCA’s former Chief Economist Martin Barnes had the pleasure of a chance encounter with Mr. X at an airport lounge, and this report is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Informe especial

In this volume of BCA Crypto we compare gold against bitcoin. We begin by dispelling some common misconceptions that investors have about gold, and why, at its core, gold is driven more by belief than by intrinsic value. We then proceed to explain why gold still serves an important role in our economy and how it differs from fiat money. Later, we explain how bitcoin is different from other cryptocurrencies, and why it could rival gold as a reserve asset in the future. Finally, we discuss the outlook for bitcoin, as well as which macro factors investor should watch.

Bank Credit Analyst

In Section I, we discuss the implications of the banking crisis that emerged in March. We do not expect what happened in the US or Europe to morph into a full-blown meltdown of the financial system, but this month’s events will likely lead to a further tightening in bank lending standards, raising further the odds of a US recession over the coming year. We continue to recommend an underweight stance toward risky assets versus government bonds over the coming 6-12 months, and defensive positioning within a global equity portfolio. In Section II, we estimate the impact of recently-passed US legislation on US business investment over the structural horizon and conclude that it will indeed boost capex growth over the coming several years. Assets poised to benefit from this trend will likely underperform over the coming year but should be bottom-fished following the next recession.

Bank Credit Analyst

In Section I, we discuss the implications of the banking crisis that emerged in March. We do not expect what happened in the US or Europe to morph into a full-blown meltdown of the financial system, but this month’s events will likely lead to a further tightening in bank lending standards, raising further the odds of a US recession over the coming year. We continue to recommend an underweight stance toward risky assets versus government bonds over the coming 6-12 months, and defensive positioning within a global equity portfolio. In Section II, we estimate the impact of recently-passed US legislation on US business investment over the structural horizon and conclude that it will indeed boost capex growth over the coming several years. Assets poised to benefit from this trend will likely underperform over the coming year but should be bottom-fished following the next recession.

Bank Credit Analyst

Some quick takes from today’s FOMC meeting.

Bank Credit Analyst

The Fed’s Volckeresque rate-hiking campaign has challenged all banks, but Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were anomalously vulnerable and the Fed’s new lending facility will ease the liquidity pressures on other banks. The current turmoil is not a replay of 2008.

Bank Credit Analyst

Welcome to BCA Crypto - a research series on cryptocurrencies. Over the next few months, we will release a series of reports analyzing this polarizing asset class. In this introductory report we distinguish between fact and fiction, clearing some of the misconceptions that investors often have about the cryptocurrency market, cryptocurrency custody, market participants, risk, return and correlation. We conclude that while the correlation between equities and cryptocurrencies will stay relatively high until the end of the cycle, at least for Bitcoin, this correlation probably peaked last year.

Bank Credit Analyst

A cryptocurrency is a digital representation of value native to a blockchain and secured by cryptography. But what exactly does this mean? In this report we go over a step-by-step guide on how a group of friends might go about creating a crypto¬currency from scratch. In the process we cover some important concepts related to cryptocurrencies such as private keys, nodes, networks, blockchains, and consensus mechanisms