Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,
Today’s post will have no answers. I am not sure anyone truly understands the strange day to day squiggles of the increasingly intertwined global financial system, but I wanted to highlight a relationship that cannot simply be monkeys typing Shakespeare.
April looks set to be the worst month since August 2015 (when China devalued and turmoil spread across the world) for global financial stress.
As Bloomberg reports, rising geopolitical concerns are pushing a gauge of anxiety for global asset classes to this year’s high.
Over the past several years we have repeatedly stated that despite protests to the contrary, the single biggest factor explaining the underperformance of the active community in general, and hedge funds in particular, has been the ubiquitous influence of the Fed and other central banks over the capital markets.
Following US Vice President Pence's earlier remarks that "the era of strategic patience is over."
.@VP Mike Pence on North Korea: “The era of strategic patience is over.” https://t.co/78WhdfZWfb pic.twitter.com/I3JnAal71I
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 17, 2017
Ambassador Kim, North Korea's Permanent UN Representative, hosted a news conference in Ryong on "the consideration of non-proliferation in the DPRK to be held in the Security Council on April 28."
As equity multiples continue to levitate to unprecedented highs, recently rising above 20x on a trailing basis, now in the 99th historical percentile according to Goldman Sachs, the lack of bargains is reflected in the acquisition prices paid by PE firms. According to a new report by PitchBook, after reaching new highs in 2016, acquisition multiples inched even higher in the first quarter of this year, and as a result the median EV/EBITDA multiple hit 10.8x in 1Q 2017, up from 10.7x last year. That was the highest median multiple paid since the financial crisis.