June 7, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal “A Race to the Bottom”.  It was April 2, 2011 and the call came.  I had just gotten off the ski lift at nearly 12,000 feet on top of Snowbird mountain (Utah).  “Are you sitting down?” No, I answered, what happened?  Mauldin was to fly up to have dinner with me [...]Read More >

May 31, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal Paul Volker - Volcker Weighs In on Limits of Fed's Easy Money Policies  On Wednesday Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker waded into the debate over when to reduce today's ultra-easy U.S. monetary policies, contending that the benefits of bond buying [...]Read More >

May 24, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal PIMCO’s Blender Being the investment geek that I am, there are several annual research meetings that I eagerly await to read about each year.   One of which is PIMCO’s Annual Secular Forum.   Picture a room full of some of the industry’s brightest thought [...]Read More >

May 16, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal High Yield bonds - Some Insight from a 20 year HY veteran The yield on the Bank of America - Merrill Lynch High Yield Bond Index moved below 5% recently. Just a month ago it set a record low yield by moving below 6% for the first time.  The Fed’s plan of a [...]Read More >

May 10, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal Hyperinflations, Hysteria, and False Memories - James Montier, GMO “To say that the printing of money by central banks to finance government deficits creates hyperinflations is far too simplistic (bordering on the simple-minded). Hyperinflation is not purely [...]Read More >

April 19, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal On portfolio construction – Engineering Targeted Returns and Risks – Ray Dalio explains how to structure a portfolio that targets a 10% return with a 10-12% risk “Most investors have backed into a mix dominated by betas, especially equities. Because the [...]Read More >

April 12, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal “A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.” — Albert Einstein (1879-1955) I smiled when I turned on the Masters Championship today.  It was two years ago this weekend that I snuggled next to my father on his hospital bed.  Some of [...]Read More >

April 4, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal With the S&P 500 Index reaching a new high, excitement builds and a focus on risk sinks slowly beneath the surface.  I found the following "Then and Now" and "Total Debt" charts enlightening and a reminder that the world remains uniquely out of balance.  Oh, [...]Read More >

March 22, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal There is something in us humans that makes us want to call the market tops and bottoms.  Far too many investors jump from "investor" to short-term, hot money "gambler".  Perhaps it's the intellectual challenge, the potential business accolades or the ego.  [...]Read More >

March 15, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal Book Smarts and Street Smarts.  Often lacking in the investment world is a knowing sense of logical human behavior and how behavior likely plays out at points of significant inflection.  The great investor connects the dots before the move.  Some people are [...]Read More >

March 1, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal While the Fed pumps the system with its super steroid mix, beneath the surface the risks mount.  Two links today: First, Stan Druckenmiller (famed hedge fund manager and former chief strategist for George Soros) and second, a research piece from Research [...]Read More >

February 22, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal Currency War has been on my radar for some time.  It is about human behavior and probable reaction to crisis.  The issue, as we know, is a developed world stuck in unmanageable debt and entitlements.  The unique challenge this time is that the UK, EU, US, [...]Read More >

January 24, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal We frequently hear that the economy is bad so stocks are down or the economy is good so stocks are up.   I'm sure you cringe along with me when you hear the news reports incorrectly justifying that day’s market move. I believe that the best predictors of [...]Read More >

February 7, 2013 By Steve Blumenthal Not since February 2000 (not a typo) has more money raced into equity funds until this past January 2013.  I hear Sir John Templeton whisper in my head, “Sell when everyone else is buying”.  He also advised to, “Buy when everyone else is selling,” though that [...]Read More >

By Steve Blumenthal January 24, 2013 This morning Ray Dalio was interviewed on CNBC.  Have you ever watched a master teacher present to his class?  There is a silence and sense of crystal clear awareness.  Ray spoke about his macro perspective, the markets and his views on how to structure a [...]Read More >