The seemingly unlimited fiscal and monetary stimulus seen in the past 14 months will have consequences. We believe part of these consequences will show up in the form of inflation.
The media is buzzing with claims of an “Economic Boom” in 2021. While the economy will most certainly grow in 2021, the question is how much is already “baked in?”
Following strong performance and record issuance of convertible bonds over the last several years, investors are beginning to take notice of the attractive characteristics of this unique asset class.
Social status quos will remain challenging to break as excuse maintenance of present circumstances for many will likely linger for years. Permanent changes to the 5-day work week, city living, suburban population increases, and significant public events will probably take many years to normalize as the stigma of COVID-19 will remain challenging to ignore.
As COVID-19 uncertainty starts normalizing, social investing subsiding (post-stimulus checks), and stock market appreciation stalling (compared to mid- 2020 and early 2021 levels), many investors began to seek answers to the most coveted questions in finance: "When is the next market bubble?", "What is the catalyst of this market bubble?" and "How do we (investors) profit or avoid its shockwaves?"
Over the long term, confusing market crashes and bear markets can be detrimental to investor outcomes. Yet, this is what Morningstar did recently in discussing the market correction in 2020.
The convergence of ultra-easy fiscal and monetary policy with global supply chain disruptions, which became ever more prominent as U.S. consumers, having saved around 8% of GDP began to unleash their pent-up demand, resulted in inflation indicators and debates exploding higher.
The recent NFIB survey suggests we are only in an economic recovery, not an expansion. Such was a point I made with Daniel Lacalle in a recent podcast.