Global risk assets continued to move lower on Monday, pushing the current selloff well into bear market territory and on pace with a level of volatility not seen since the market crash of 1987. To be sure, the S&P 500 index shed over 12% in another unpredictable day of trading and follows the surprise FOMC meeting on Sunday that slashed the fed funds rate by 100 basis points and saw the restart of its asset purchase programs. What has become…
The outlook for the U.S. and global economy has deteriorated yet again. Unsurprisingly, the culprit behind the outlook downgrade has been news of the coronavirus’ continued spread. To be sure, risk assets sold off this week and financial market volatility increased as concerns about the virus and its potential impact on the global economy dented investors’ up-until-recent euphoric sentiment. More importantly, worries about the coronavirus come at a time when economic conditions in the U.S. and around the world remain…
An undercurrent of seemingly benign financial market and political developments are poised to move both prepared and unprepared households further away from their financial goals in the coming years. These issues include monetary policy-related financial market distortions, a drag from excessive global debt and the rise of geopolitical uncertainties. Households attempting to financially prepare for the future will need to contend with financial market distortions that induce greater risk taking, debt constrained growth that lead to increasingly more expensive investment…