● Big Agenda: President Trump’s Plan to Save America
By David Horowitz
Summary via publisher (Humanix)
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election was more than a historic upset. It was the beginning of a major political, economic, and social revolution that will change America — and the world. One of the nation’s foremost conservative commentators, New York Times bestselling author, and a mentor to many of Donald Trump’s key advisers, David Horowitz presents a White House battle plan to halt the Democrats’ march to extinguish the values America holds dear.
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Monthly Archives: January 2017
Moderate US Growth Prevails At Dawn Of Trump Era
Donald Trump is set to become the 45th President of the United States today at 12 noon Eastern and he will inherit an economy that’s expanding at a moderate pace, based on available data published to date. Optimists argue that the new administration’s policies will boost the growth rate, but there’s also plenty of skepticism in other quarters about what to expect, in part because of concerns that Trump’s economic plans could start a trade war. The one thing that everyone can (or should) agree on at the moment is that the world’s biggest economy ended 2016 on a relatively high note, according to a range of indicators. There are still many problems facing the country from an economic perspective, but for the moment there’s a respectable tail wind blowing.
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10-Year Treasury Inflation Forecast Reaches 2.0%
The Treasury market’s implied inflation forecast via 10-year yields touched 2.0% on Wednesday (Jan. 18) for the first time in more than two years as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave an upbeat assessment of the US economic outlook. “The economy is near maximum employment and inflation is moving toward our goal,” she said in speech.
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A New Study Quantifies The Impact Of Time Horizon On Risk
Can you distinguish alpha from beta? Child’s play, right? Measure an investment portfolio against a relevant benchmark and, voila, all is clear. But as a new paper reminds, analyzing risk and return based on time horizon changes a black-and-white world of equity factors into 50 shades of gray.
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Wealth Creation Is Another Name For Poverty Reduction
How much lower would the world’s poverty rate be if Warren Buffett’s skills in identifying value in the corporate sphere had evaporated decades ago? How many fewer families living hand to mouth would be suffering if, in 1980, IBM didn’t offer a young Bill Gates and his fledging company the opportunity to develop an operating system for Big Blue’s then-radical idea of producing personal computers for the masses?
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Commodities Top The Weekly Performance List
Commodities led the way higher last week among the major assets classes, based on a set of exchange-traded products. Close behind: emerging-market stocks, the number-two total-return performer for the five trading days through Jan. 13.
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Book Bits |14 January 2017
● A Good Disruption: Redefining Growth in the Twenty-First Century
By Martin Stuchtey, et al.
Summary via publisher (Bloomsbury)
Disruptive technology is one of the defining economic trends of our age, transforming one major industry after another. But what is the true impact of such disruption on the world’s economies, and does it really have the potential to solve global problems such as low growth, inequality and environmental degradation? The provocative answer is that such disruption could indeed solve many of these issues, but that it won’t… at least, not on its current trajectory.
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Auto Sales Drive US Retail Spending Higher In December
Retail consumption in the final month of 2016 increased by 0.6%, led by higher spending on motor vehicles, the Census Bureau reports. Although the increase was slightly below expectations, the rise was enough to boost the year-over-year trend above the 4% mark for the second time last year.
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A Caveat On Backtesting Caveats
Ben Carlson at Ritholtz Asset Management reminds us that backtesting offers no shortcuts to investment nirvana. As he correctly points out, there are numerous shortcomings in the art/science of reconstructing the historical results of an investment strategy. But it’s also true that backtesting, if used wisely, can be a powerful tool for sensibly managing expectations with regards to return and risk. In fact, there’s really no reason not to run a backtest, even on strategies that appear to be free of mystery. The tough part is figuring out how, or if, to use the results. Fortunately, clear thinking and planning can boost the odds that backtesting will be a productive exercise.
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Energy-Sector Momentum Continues To Lead US Stocks Higher
The rebound in energy shares since the November election has backtracked slightly in 2017, but these stocks still hold the top spot for one-year total return (252 trading days) for US sectors through Jan. 11, based on a set of proxy ETFs.
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