FOMC preview: How hawkish the tone?

As we approach another FOMC this week, much of the short-term tone of the market will depend on the Fed. In order to analyze what the Fed is likely to do, let`s begin with their mandate, which is price stability (fighting inflation) and full employment. In addition, the Fed has taken on a third objective...

The Trump Arbitrage Trade

The reaction to Donald Trump`s speech to the Republican convention has been highly bifurcated. Mainstream media and analysts mostly reacted with horror and raised cautionary notes about his campaign of fear (see The New York Times and The Economist), while social media lit up with "I would totally vote for this guy" messages.    ...

Demographic Apocalypse Now?

When I was a boy, I can remember the Zero Population Growth (ZPG) movement, which was a response to the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth Mathusian thesis of "the world has limited resources, but human population is rising exponentially and therefore ecological disaster looms". Somewhere along the way, birth rates fell in response to global...