With an acknowledgment that economic activity has consistently strengthened since the third quarter, Fed Chairman Bernanke announced at the December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that the Federal Reserve would begin to reduce emergency quantitative easing commencing in January. Moreover, he said the FOMC expects quantitative easing to be fully concluded by the end […]
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“For the time being the Fed is doing a good job with its forward guidance but if the economy cranks up, they will look foolish saying rates will stay low for longer,” says Michael Kastner, managing principal at Halyard Asset Management. “No matter what the Fed may say, the market will price in a closer […]
November 2013 The barrage of better than expected economic data witnessed in October continued through November and into the early days of December. With the improvement in growth, investor confidence has risen markedly from the doom and gloom days of the government shutdown. Reflecting the improved confidence, bond prices fell off and equity markets rallied. […]
Michael Kastner, managing principal at Halyard Asset Management, plays down the likelihood of a taper decision next week but adds: “The Fed has been so wishy-washy about the taper this year, you can’t rule out a December taper.” Investors take Fed taper fever in their stride
“The current rally has robbed a bit of next year’s performance,” says Michael Kastner, managing principal at Halyard Asset Management. Mr Kastner says: “We seem to have moved from investing under sensible valuations to one of the greater fool theory, hoping there is another buyer willing to pay a higher price at these extended levels.” […]
Investors were clearly pleased with the end of the government shutdown, as the various “risk on” trades performed well in October. Fixed income returns were driven entirely by a demand for credit, as the Treasury market was mostly unchanged for the period. As the government returned to work late last month, investors debated what impact […]
“When I consider buying a bond, it is important to have some degree of comfort the issuing entity will pay some of my money back even if it goes into default,” said Michael Kastner, a principal at Halyard Asset Management. “The coco structure defeats that purpose.” Such criticism has not deterred banks as demand has […]
While the news media has been commemorating the 5 year anniversary of the financial crisis, investors continue to vacillate between risk-on/risk-off strategies on a daily basis. September was especially so, driven by a barrage of “you gotta be kidding me” news headlines. To recap, Verizon announced and within 48 hours completed the largest corporate […]
“This is a critical period of the year for the economy and the last thing you want to see is business and consumers retrenching spending,” said Michael Kastner, principal at Halyard Asset Management. “As we have seen in the past, equities can take quite a hit when Washington’s battles turn ugly.” US moves closer to […]