Seymour Zises, President and co-founder of Family Management, writes bi-monthly opinions on issues and observations of relevance to clients and investors.
It is roughly a decade since the brewing of the financial crisis. Since that time, central banks worldwide have flooded the markets with what economists call, “helicopter money”; vast volumes of notes printed and circulated – as if flung from a helicopter – to create growth and inflation in their national economies.
Norway is the place to be! It has the highest happiness quotient of all the world’s nations. Why, you ask? Norway is politically stable and has high literacy rates, educational levels and material wealth. It also has one of the best welfare systems in the world and one of the lowest crime rates. Strong social foundations are found to bring the most contentment in life – maybe U.S. politicians can learn a thing or two if they head north.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plowed past 20,000 this week just as the national debt is expected to cross the $20 trillion mark by the end of 2017. Both of these numbers would have been hard to fathom eight short years ago.
The world was surprised as Mr. Trump’s victory became evident on the eve of November 8th. Global markets swooned only to recover at the prospect of Mr. Trump’s vow to spend heavily on infrastructure and reduce regulation. The most significant move was the increase in interest rates as the U.S. ten year note moved from
Oops, they did it again? The Federal Reserve Chairperson Janet Yellen deferred an interest rate increase . . . that was no big surprise. Obviously, pre-election moves by the Fed might very well be considered political. Notwithstanding the above, the economy is hardly robust and might be struggling for the foreseeable future. Are we living
