December 20, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria." – Sir John Templeton An essential and prescient quote for the current state of play. Investor and GMO investment and asset management [...]Read More >

  December 13, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "Earnings don't move the overall market; it's the Federal Reserve Board... focus on the central banks and focus on the movement of liquidity... most people in the market are looking for earnings and conventional measures. It's liquidity that [...]Read More >

  December 6, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "If I have been able to see farther than others, it was because I stood on the shoulders of giants." - Sir Isaac Newton Despite current indicators suggesting a low probability of an imminent U.S. recession, it's prudent to remember that [...]Read More >

  November 22, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "If you are not aggressive, you are not going to make money, and if you are not defensive, you are not going to keep money." - Ray Dalio, Founder, CIO Mentor, and Member of the Board Bridgewater Associates It's hard to believe we’ve landed on [...]Read More >

  November 15, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble; it's what we know that ain't so." - Will Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) Today, let's put some hard numbers into play and then game theory the economic implications going forward. [...]Read More >

  November 8, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "This is much bigger than politics; this is a cultural moment."  — Dr. Pippa Malmgren The results are in. The stock market took off like a rocket ship, and interest rates shot higher. Like it or not, it's primarily red across the board. Trump is [...]Read More >

  November 1, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "The Great Powers Index is a very thorough report on each of the leading 24 countries, showing readings for several different categories of well-being with many measures of each category.  It also uses these measures to provide a prognosis for the [...]Read More >

  October 25, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "A failure to correct unsustainable fiscal trajectories poses major risks to growth, inflation, and financial stability." — Augustine Carstens, General Manager, Bank of International Settlements, October 22, 2024 Yes, precisely what he [...]Read More >

  October 18, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "When you're easing into a meltup in financial markets, and we have the fiscal policy we have going forward, it's certainly a risk. And I just think it's a mistake not to be taking that risk into account." — Stanley Drunkenmiller, Bloomberg [...]Read More >

  October 11, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "Bottom line, yields across the curve are at the highs of the day with the 10 yr yield now at 4.07%, the highest since late July. While the Fed’s aggressive rate cut, the China stimulus news, and the better-than-expected jobs report are likely [...]Read More >

  September 27, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "The earlier you find your passion, the better—because it won’t seem like a chore to follow your dream, and you’ll outwork everyone in the process." — Todd Combs Every week, I sift through the noise, searching for research that genuinely [...]Read More >

  September 20, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "Risk is the probability of loss." — Howard Marks I’m a big fan of Howard Marks’s Memos on investing strategies, and I bet you are, too. The investing world has its own vocabulary, and when writing about it, many in the industry often struggle [...]Read More >

  September 13, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "We are here, we'd be better off here." — Steve Blumenthal, CMG, On My Radar   We talked about valuations last week and received many thoughtful responses. I want to share one particularly excellent one from Dan S: "Hi Steve, I have [...]Read More >

  September 6, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal "It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up." — Vince Lombardi Bonds now, stocks later.  When I started in the business in 1984, few investors thought long-term. Most believed the way to succeed was to trade the market. [...]Read More >

  August 30, 2024 By Steve Blumenthal Dr. Lacy Hunt argues that the Fed's current policy stance is too restrictive for the economy's growth rate. He points out that the average growth of real per capita GDP and GDI is around 1.4%, aligning with the long-term trend since the 1970s. With [...]Read More >