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Who Picks Up The Bill? Part 2
In the last Macro print, we concluded that, given the current levels of stimulus, Austerity measures won’t be enough to cover the bill. Extreme fiscal spending financed by unconventional measures (such as Modern Monetary Theory) is in vogue and a key proposition for the post-Covid world. For this to materialize, we’ll likely need to move to a more centrally planned economy, and history has not voted in favor of this kind of regimes. Unfortunately, whilst the most common argument against MMT refers to the risks of growing inflation (which we share), we believe that the larger risk to consider is the increased size of the government’s share in the economy, which is likely to lead to the misallocation of capital and, to a larger extend, a less productive economy overall.
Choppy Ride Ahead of U.S.
Election years have historically been positive return years for markets, and since 1944 we only had two election years that were not positive… 2000 (Dot-com Crash) and 2008 (GFC). Given the strong market performance throughout summer, the political uncertainties ahead, and the risks of the current short gamma positioning of many market participants, we believe that risk is skewed to the downside and that volatility is likely to pick up in the near term.
Notes… from people way smarter than us
Lord Mervyn King was the Governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013, meaning that he ran the central bank through the Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath. The reason why we enjoyed the read is the sober and balanced analysis that he put together about structural economic imbalances, the reforms needed to the financial system, the creation of money and the need for trust, themes that are frequently thrown around by people who have no understanding of the system, or ability to talk about it. We only focused on covering his thoughts on structural imbalances, but the whole book is well worth a read.
Who Picks Up The Bill? Part 1
Given the recent $20 trillion of stimulus sponsored by governments and Central Banks all over the world to keep the global economy afloat amidst the COVID pandemic, we asked ourselves who and especially how are we going to pay for this spending regime. Austerity measures, which target a decrease in government spending and an increase in taxation, are unlikely to be enough to cover the current level of spending.
Listening to Gold and the US Dollar on a Quiet Summer Night
The US market is still following the same Fed and Government stimulus narrative of the last months, which end ups benefitting the larger and already dominant companies of the US equity market (#tech). Despite a non-eventful month, gold is up 20% since June and has now reached nominal all-time highs. We wonder if this finally signals a potential return to inflation? Early to say, but definitely interesting to follow.
Can Policy Makers turn the ‘V’ into Victory?
Many global data points appear to be carving out a V-shaped recovery. This is deeply misleading, merely reflecting the depth of the economic decline, rather than the success of the rebound. Leaders are already preparing to add yet more stimulus.
Notes… from people way smarter than us
We leverage Mike Green’s understanding of the current market structure to get a sense of how passive investing, the systematic selling of volatility, and illiquid markets became the primary drivers of transactions in the financial markets and, thus, of price.
Debt, Deficit and Future Financing
We’re taking a deep-dive, holistic view of the unsustainable growth in U.S. government debt to try to understand what comes next as historical sources of budget financing begin to thin out. Existential forces such as Baby Boomer retirements and re-domesticating supply chains in a post-COVID world may force the Fed’s hand to continue purchasing U.S. debt, ad infinitum, to keep the budget alive. We don’t know where this all leads, but we know one thing: the future will most certainly not look like the past.
There’s a New Kid in Town
The combination of new retail investors flooding the market and a huge liquidity surplus that is already in the market, with a lot more dry-powder sitting on the sidelines, has pushed markets up and up, some to new all-time highs, even amidst growing COVID concerns of a second infections wave (really just an extension of the first wave that never reset. Thanks Florida). Where we go from here is almost solely up to the Fed, and our willingness, or not, to work through another potential full economic shutdown.
Destructive Creation: Killing Growth With More Stimulus
Decades-long loose central bank policy has led to many unintended consequences, most acute as of recent however, is the increase in zombie firms that are unable to service their debt loads with current and forecasted cash flows, as well as the growing chasm of wealth inequality being blown wide open. The capitalist construct that drove wealth creation over the past few decades now resembles more of a wealth transfer mechanism via asset price inflation, than a wealth creation one.
Repeat After Me, The Markets Are Not The Economy
The divergence between economic datapoints and the performance of the financial markets has rarely been so acute. There are reasons for that to be the case, and even more for that to continue to be the case. Could we end up in a world with financial markets at all-time highs whilst we have an economic depression?
Fiscal Stimulus: a Cure or a Curse?
Inflation and deflation, the stuff of Econ 101, has become a tribal debate among financial markets participants. We believe that, despite monumental monetary and fiscal stimulus from central banks and governments, we’re more likely to see deflation than inflation in the short to medium term (unfortunately).
Airlines, Bailouts and Moral Hazard
We’ve witnessed a huge backlash against the bailout of U.S. airlines especially given the amount of buybacks they’ve done in the last decade. We went beyond the headlines and analyzed what drove management to financially engineer their balance sheets. The problem is more systemic than you think.