Executive Summary: The big banks likely earned big bucks during Q3, with several winds at their backs. But their Q4s should be more problematic, Jackie explains. … And: Several big banks were lenders for a used car dealer serving illegal

Executive Summary: The latest US–China aggressions have the financial markets worried about the high stakes of a trade war between the globe’s biggest trading nation and its largest economy. William observes that a disruption to global supply chains would have

Executive Summary: The rapid revenue growth of cloud providers that meet AI data storage needs has enticed lots of players to build new data center capacity. Some, like Amazon and Open AI, are doing so to meet their own AI

Executive Summary: Investors in Japan’s stock and bond markets aren’t likely to welcome the policies of Japan’s probable new prime minister. William explains why. … Also: Political and fiscal crises in France are rocking that nation’s financial markets as investors

Executive Summary: Chinese stocks are rallying on AI exuberance and a leap of faith that governmental reforms will bear fruit, with little fundamental support for their ascent from earnings or economic data. William likens it to a similar runup a

Executive Summary: Sunshine during my tour of the West Coast and in the stock market last week. But everyone’s on the lookout for signs of an AI bubble. Jeff Bezos has a positive take on bubbles that makes sense to

Executive Summary: On the first day of the government shutdown, stock markets stayed calm and carried onward and upward. But modest reactions in the bond and gold markets as well as the dollar were registered. … Also: Canadians feeling slighted

Executive Summary: Japan is at an economically precarious time, William reports. GDP is barely growing, yet the BOJ is bent on monetary tightening. A new prime minister is likely to roll out fiscal stimulus measures, but Japan has the heaviest

Executive Summary: Argentina’s failing economy was buoyed by IMF intervention in April, but since August the floor has fallen out. President Milei’s austerity plan is slamming consumer confidence, and foreign investors are rushing for the exits. Trump’s controversial $20 billion

Executive Summary: Our Roaring 2020s outlook has been on target since the beginning of the decade. Over the past two quarters, GDP growth and consumer spending have been robust, and the recession widely anticipated for three years and as recently

Executive Summary: Nvidia has been seeding its future demand by investing huge sums in companies that will likely grow into big purchasers of Nvidia chips. Will the investments bear the hoped-for fruit? Jackie has the story. … Also: The Genius

Executive Summary: The Congressional Budget Office envisions a late-cycle slowdown of the US economy, with sharply lower labor force growth and budget deficits rising as GDP growth slows. Melissa shares highlights from the CBO’s September forecast and the BLS’s recent

Executive Summary: Two recent shockers have unnerved Japanese investors—the resignation of Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba and the tapering of the BOJ’s stock market supporting ETF purchases. Bond Vigilantes, fearing that Japan’s huge debt will only swell under Ishiba’s successor, have

Executive Summary: The Fed’s 25-basis-point cut in the federal funds rate last week doesn’t change our S&P 500 price targets or our subjective probabilities of a meltup (25% odds) or correction (20%) by year-end. Today, Dr Ed explores the reactions

Executive Summary: The Fed decided to do yesterday exactly what was expected of it. So its 25-basis-point drop in the federal funds rate barely moved the needle in Wednesday’s trading. But anticipation of the move has helped interest-rate-sensitive stocks outperform

Executive Summary: It may not be as feasible as some think for China’s government to achieve its 5% annual GDP growth goal given formidable headwinds, including slow-moving economic reforms and the impact of US tariffs. William discusses the challenges that

Executive Summary: For many emerging markets around the world, Trump’s tariffs on their exports to the US are stressing economies that already were facing formidable challenges, William reports. The President of Indonesia has been making moves that undermine Bank Indonesia’s

Executive Summary: A recent article by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent takes aim at the Fed for its use of unconventional monetary tools and its mission creep. Today, Dr Ed addresses the Treasury secretary in an open letter, detailing where they

Executive Summary: It’s nice to buy stocks at relatively low valuations, but only if they aren’t cheap for a reason. European stock markets may be climbing a wall of worry that’s about to get steeper given a weakening economic and

Executive Summary: Global debt markets are in disarray, with Bond Vigilantes driving up yields in various nations—including two that lost their leaders this week, France and Japan. William discusses global investors’ uncertainties regarding both countries as well as how President

Executive Summary: India’s economy is generating some serious steam—GDP is growing at a fast and accelerating clip, industrial production is at a record high, and inflation has dropped below the central bank’s target. But the stats don’t tell the whole

Executive Summary: Our Roaring 2020s economic scenario and expectations for inflation and the labor market suggest that the Fed probably shouldn’t cut interest rates this year, although one cut might be warranted if upcoming inflation reports are more subdued than

Executive Summary: If consumers are as depressed as sinking sentiment surveys suggest, you’d never know it by the stellar July-quarter results that retailers from all walks of the industry have been reporting. Jackie summarizes key points from the earnings reports

Executive Summary: Internal discord among the EU’s member nations portends fragmentation and waning geopolitical influence, reports Melissa. … China’s EV industry, BYD in particular, had been booming until recently. Now it faces formidable headwinds from within the country and without;

Executive Summary: A new wave of sovereign risk is washing over European economies, with the UK and France most vulnerable as they navigate fiscal fragility, political instability, and cratering bond market confidence. Will the UK and France need bailouts from

Executive Summary: Nvidia investors were underwhelmed by yesterday’s impressive earnings report with surging revenue growth; its shares sold off in after-market trading. Jackie looks at what’s been driving the performance of the company and its stock. … Also: AI-related stocks

Executive Summary: The balance of risks in the US labor market is shifting, as Fed Chair Powell discussed at the Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium last Friday. Today, Melissa breaks the labor market down into its moving parts, identifying the areas

Executive Summary: The potential for lower US interest rates, a weaker dollar, and Trump Tariff Turmoil have created one big headache for Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda. William explores how Japan’s central bank will weigh the need to stimulate

Executive Summary: Fed Chair Powell’s eagerly awaited speech at the Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium on Friday fanned stock investors’ hope that the FOMC would lower the federal funds rate in September—despite Powell’s hedges and the fact that upcoming data releases

Executive Summary: Retailers’ earnings reports offer a window into recent consumer behavior. Tariff-related uncertainty hasn’t slowed consumer discretionary spending and perhaps has buoyed it, but consumers do seem reluctant to make big purchases requiring financing, Jackie reports. … Also: Small-cap