Business

Which is worse - from a bond market perspective - Socialist utopia Venezuela or debt-bloated Puerto Rico?

Of course, comparing price is not a fair comparison in bond land...

European Stocks are back at 2-month lows after falling for 7 straight days - the longest losing streak since early November last year.

This time there is no US election 'surprise' to rescue them!

Given the massive ECB buying program throughout Europe, it is the stock market that is leading the HY bond market lower (after the latter saw spreads crash to a record low 179bps at the start of November)...

Last week, when equities were still blissfully hitting daily record highs, we showed the one "chart that everyone is talking about", or if they weren't they soon would be: the sharp, sudden disconnect between the junk bond and stock market ...

... a disconnect which - as we showed at the time - was last observed in mid-August 2015, just days before the infamous ETFlash crash. Fast forward to day, with stocks suddenly hitting air pockets around the globe and rapidly catching down to junk yields...

US equity markets have rebounded aggressively off their opening plunge on the heels of a sudden magical bid...

Can you guess where from...

Now that Europe is closed - what happens next?

Ever since 2012 (see "How The Fed's Visible Hand Is Forcing Corporate Cash Mismanagement")  we have warned that as a result of the Fed's flawed monetary policy and record low rates, corporations have been incentivized not to invest in growth and allocate funds to capital spending (the result has been an unprecedented decline in capex), but to engage in the quickest, and most effective - if only in the short run - shareholder friendly actions possible, namely stock buybacks.