I’ve often warned that Western economies – now heavily indebted post credit crisis – are on track to end up like Japan if nothing is done to change course. You might think that means Japan is down and out, and while they are, there is
Category Archives: Economics & Fundamentals
Our latest piece in the Globe & Mail explores the argument that stock markets must continue endlessly spiraling upward. Why? Because rates are to remain between negative and to low (which we agree with), and therefor there is no alternative to pure equity risk (we
I have suggested for years that zero and (now) negative interest rate policies that central banks have employed are stealing money from the savers to prop up the economy and it’s not working very well. One estimate I saw recently has transferred over 2 trillion
A week does not go by on Berman’s Call where we don’t get a handful of emails or calls asking how retirees can get a safe 4-6 per cent yield in their portfolios. The source of this question stems from the Zero Interest Rate Policies
Why work for a living when your house out-earns you? In a “truth is stranger than fiction” moment, the price appreciation of homes in greater Vancouver have produced more than the sum total of all work done by every single human being that lives in
So May is almost over, and most markets around the world are up, putting the notion of ‘sell in May and go away’ in question. The facts are simple, while there are tendencies of price behaviour at certain times during the year, it is by
You will start to hear about a head and shoulders pattern forming on the S&P 500 this week. I wanted to look at the pattern, what is happening in the market as it is forming, and the probability it plays out and what you should
Share Buybacks have been a very popular use of corporate profits in the past few years. By some estimates, they have “artificially” increased earnings per share by over 25 per cent in the past few years. This would suggest that if we factor in non-adjusted
Stock analysts (bottom up) remain on crack. They almost always love their stocks and they basically get paid to tell a good story on why you should buy them. Very few are unbiased even after years of regulatory changes and the fact that they swear
This week on Berman’s Call: Leading Indicators: Credit Spreads and Bank Underperformance There is nothing more toxic to growth than too much leverage. We have said for years that the bond market is far smarter about the outlook for the economy than the stock market.