In the initial weeks after the news of the Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCov) outbreak, exponential growth in reported cases coupled with spotty data suggested an extremely contagious pathogen with a high case fatality rate. Early estimates had the transmission rate (R-0) at 3.8 new cases for every infected person and a fatality rate of over 3%. Combined with...

A blended or "balanced" portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds currently yields under 1.8%, an all-time low...

Fidelity's recent audit of its 30 million retirement accounts revealed that nearly 40% of its clients were over-allocated to equities relative to what would be recommended by most advisors for their current phase of life. In addition, 8% of retirement accounts had 100% in equities. Without knowing the details of each account holder's personal situation, i...

This week's chart juxtaposes the sad current state of the energy sector with one of the top-performing stocks (Apple) in the top performing sector (Tech)...

As of the third quarter, aggregate U.S. household assets (excluding nonprofit organizations) are at the highest level relative to incomes in history...

Market pundits are drawing parallels between the performance of the S&P 500 for 2013 and 2019, and for good reason—the comparisons are understandable considering how similar performance has been, especially since July. However, we need to fight the temptation to assume analogs like this can be used to predict the future. The reality is more often than not...

As the year winds down, we find ourselves reflecting on the unusually low volatility we see across financial markets and what that may be telling us about the outlook for the year ahead. With Thanksgiving just a few days away, what better time to revisit the classic analogy provided by Nassim Taleb in his 2007 book, The Black Swan.

Overlaying the deficit as a % of GDP with the unemployment rate, we can see how unusual such a high deficit is in the context of an economic expansion...