August – often a low volume and unexciting end-of-summer month in financial markets – was much more volatile and eventful than usual this year, with the excitement stemming principally from global central banks as they try earnestly to curb stubbornly high inflation. Even as central banks were tightening the screws, August didn’t start off badly […]
July was a banner month for traditional financial assets following a horrendous first half of 2022. What’s perhaps most notable is how the month ended with positive momentum when equity markets surged during the last week. The S&P 500 turned in a solid performance, gaining 9.1% on the month following a 20.6% decline in the […]
Thursday marked the end of a difficult first half of the year for nearly all traditional financial asset classes. For the past six months, returns in most global equity markets were negative, with U.S. equities being one of the poorest performers. The S&P 500 declined 20.6% in the first half of this year, its worst […]
Few subjects in finance at the moment are as relevant as inflation. The U.S., like many developed global economies, finds itself mired in a period of high inflation that is eroding living standards and leading to imbalances in the global economy. In May of this year, the Consumer Price Index (“CPI,” encompassing all goods and […]
Read More… from The State of Inflation: Origins, Obstacles, and Opportunities
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24th caused a tremendous amount of misery and death (both military and civilian). Though largely anticipated by western governments, the invasion has both profound geopolitical effects and resulted in real economic and financial costs for the global economy. Wars are expensive to finance by the countries involved, while also […]
Read More… from Geopolitical Conflict and Its Toll on Business
A Perfect Storm of Volatility Sentiment during the first three weeks of May felt similar to April as the ongoing “risk-off” attitude caused equities and bonds prices to continue to slide. As it had broadly telegraphed, the Federal Reserve dug in its heels and remained singularly focused on tightening monetary policy quickly in order to […]
Read the latest edition of Percent Market Insights, a Percent newsletter. Dive deep into the latest happenings in private credit, alternative investing, and the greater finance world with insights from market veteran Tim Hall. […]
This is the first edition of Percent Market Insights, a new newsletter from Percent featuring commentary from market veteran Tim Hall of E-Morning Coffee. Raising Rates The Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds rate for the first time since the pandemic in March, increasing it by 25bps (to a range of 0.25% to 0.50%), and […]