Written by Mark Burgess, Columbia Threadneedle Investments The most important aspect of China’s slowdown is whether it leads to lower but better quality growth, or whether something more serious occurs. Lower energy and commodity prices should provide a boost for consumers,
September 21, 2015
To be sure, emerging markets are for the most part an across-the-board train wreck right now, as a confluence of factors including still-depressed Chinese demand, sluggish global growth and trade, depressed commodity prices, and a looming (supposedly) Fed hike have
let’ While investors have deployed capital into venture capital and private equity funds, credit funds, and REITs for quite some time, “alternative alternatives” or “A2”, represent the possibility of investing in specific securities within each of these alternative asset classes. Just
The Fed’s decision to not raise the fed funds rate at this time was ultimately taken by the market as a no-confidence vote on our economic health, which just added to the fear and uncertainty that was already present. Rather
It seems there is no end to the oil industry’s woes. The number of defaults is mounting for the beleaguered sector and the latest victim of this trend is Samson Resources Corp. Last Wednesday, it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy,
Existing Home Sales Decline More Than Expected Existing home sales in August dipped 4.8% month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.31 million units. Although a decline of 1.7% was anticipated, the actual number was below any estimate in the Bloomberg
When bailout-darling GM ‘fessed up to an intentional ignition-switch defect, tied to at least 174 deaths, The Justice Department fined them $900 million (and no employees faced criminal charges). So, in this consequence-less world in which we live, when Volkswagen admits to literally cheating emissions-standards tests,
Note: We’ve updated the quiz based on Friday’s Q2 Financial Accounts of the United States (previously referred to as the Flow of Funds Accounts). Hint: The correct answer is the same as it was for the last quiz. Pop Quiz! Without
The world economy appears to be stalling… Yesterday, we got news that South Korea’s exports dropped 14.7% since last August…their largest decline since the financial crisis. It’s far worse than the 5.9% drop economists were expecting. South Korea’s exports are
A quietly panicking Janet Yellen and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided the U.S. economy still isn’t ready for an interest rate hike last week and left the Fed funds rate at essentially zero – the same level to
