The Federal Reserve Bank of the US held the fed funds rate steady at Wednesday’s meeting. The fed funds rate remain at 3.5-3.75%. This was the expectation in the market and as a result, the reaction to the news was relatively muted. Chairman Powell’s commentary focused on two distinct but closely intertwined topics (1) the […]

It may have been a shortened trading week due to Monday’s holiday but there was no shortage of market moving news. Surge in Japanese Bond Yields – Tuesday morning brought two main events, the first of which was a surge in Japanese Bond yields. They rose across all durations, with the 10 year JGB yield […]

It’s been an eventful start to 2026! Let’s look at a few things that happened so far this year: Venezuela – In early January, US launched a military intervention in this oil-rich country and took its President into custody. The US has now taken over Venezuela’s oil industry. The oil is heavy crude which requires […]

Congratulations! You made it thru another year of being an investor! 2025 was quite the ride that ended up very well for most investors. International equity markets had a stellar year, as did many commodities. US equity markets held their own and fixed income posted impressive returns as well. All in all, 2025 was a […]

The years sure do fly by! 2025 was no exception. A lot happened this year in the investing world (tariff tantrum, AI trade, AI bubble panic, ongoing Fed drama, and many more events). All told, it was a great year to be an investor, with most major indexes exceeding their long-term return expectations by meaningful […]

The Federal Reserve was back in focus this week as the US central bank announced its December rate decision. This rate move has been a topic of much debate in markets ever since the last cut was announced. Markets were anticipating a cut, with 88% odds of such a move in advance of the meeting. […]

If you’ve been dismayed and concerned by the blurring of the line between investing and gambling in financial markets, this post is for you. During 2025, there has been a sharp uptrend in the popularity and use of prediction markets. Prediction markets (run by companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket) are exchanges where people can […]

April wasn’t all that long ago but fortunately for us, we as humans tend to have very short memories. As a result, many of us have already forgotten the extreme market volatility we experienced just over six months ago. The recovery from that swoon has been remarkably quick (matter of months) and remarkably strong (S&P […]

After another year of strong performance for US markets, there is increasing chatter regarding what will lead to its demise. This is just how markets work – the more they go up, the more participants look for reasons they will soon go down. One common refrain from bears (ie: those betting the market will decline) […]

If you followed the financial news this week, you undoubtedly heard the story about a US investor named Michael Burry, famously known for the bet he made against the US market prior to the 2008 financial crisis (focused on the complex instruments linked to the US housing/mortgage market). Spoiler alert – he was right (despite […]