Market Structure Insights

September 11, 2019

There’s a story going around about an epochal rotation from momentum (growth) to value in stocks. It may be a hoax. I’ll explain in a bit. First the facts. It began Monday when without warning the iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor ETF (VLUE) veered...

September 4, 2019

Want a big ranch out west? Apparently you don’t. The Wall Street Journal last month ran a feature (subscription required) on the mushrooming supply of leviathan cattle operations from Colorado to Idaho, legacy assets of the rich left to heirs from the era of Ted...

August 28, 2019

I don’t think it should be overlooked that “Quants” and “Quasts” differ by only a letter. Scott Patterson’s 2010 book, The Quants, is a great read.  You’ll be riveted by what was cascading beneath the market’s surface before the financial crisis.  Here’s a taste: “That...

August 21, 2019

“It’s going to be an interesting year.” We wrote that phrase in the Jan 2, 2019 edition of the Market Structure Map. (By the way, we’re in Rhode Island this week visiting customers, and in Newport you’ll see the sea in everything.) I don’t mean...

August 14, 2019

Albert Einstein reputedly quipped that compounding was the 8th wonder of the world. What would he think of negative interest rates? The 10-year German government bond yield is -0.61%. The Rule of 72, which nobody mentions now, says dividing 72 by the expected rate of...

August 7, 2019

Bula! That’s Fijian for “greetings!” You say it “boo-lah.” Fiji is among the friendliest places on the planet. Karen and I are just back from the South Pacific, as this compilation illustrates.  Do you know it’s traditional in Fiji to invite anyone passing by to...

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