BIBL News and Press, Inspire 100 From 04/19/21

We see the restart, stabilizing U.S. Treasury yields and relatively cheap valuations boosting emerging market (EM) assets after a choppy start to 2021. U.S. stocks hit record highs and 10-year Treasury yields fell to the lowest level in more than a month. Major U.S. banks reported pos...

On an unadjusted basis, new jobless claims declined by 152,833 to 612,919. Seasonally adjusted claims declined by 193,000 to 576,000 (with last week's number being adjusted upward by 25,000). Continuing claims, which historically lag initial claims by a few weeks to several months...

Expectations were very depressed the first year off the market bottom but are getting harder to beat now. Stock valuations are relatively high, but we call this a “good overbought condition” because so much of the market is participating. Chris Verrone, head of techn...

Strategas policy expert Jeannette Lowe breaks down the evolving landscape on infrastructure spending and the potential for tax changes to both the corporate sector and individual investor. Infrastructure spending has a pretty long lag time to roll out and start affecting the economy, ...

The earlier the Fed acknowledges the policy implication of higher inflation, the less damaging will be any ensuing increase in rates. There is a rump of Fed speakers scheduled today, presenting an opportunity to acknowledge this risk. There is less scope for ECB displays of optimi...

The first quarter of 2021 brought what the Asset Allocation Committee expected, and as it looks to the next six to 12 months, it faces two questions. Do we think the economy will overheat, pushing bond yields to levels that unsettle equity markets or even force central banks to stifle...

All of the recent positive economic news caused the IMF to raise its 2021 U.S. GDP forecast by a giant step to 6.4% (from 5.1% previously estimated). That would represent the strongest annual economic growth rate since 1984. The one warning flag is inflation. Producer Price Index rose...

The economic restart has lifted commodity prices. Beyond that, we see structural trends leading to a divergence of fortunes in different commodities. The International Monetary Fund has raised its global growth forecast to 6% in 2021. U.S. stocks hit record highs and yields traded bel...

We are recovering from a sharp if brief recession, and with the dual fire hoses of fiscal and monetary stimulus, entering a boom such as we have probably not seen in over 50 years. Unsurprisingly, supplies of commodities and goods that had been cut back during the recession are going ...

On an unadjusted basis, new jobless claims rose by 18,172 to 740,787. Seasonally adjusted claims rose by 16,000 to 744,000. Continuing claims, which historically lag initial claims by a few weeks to several months, continued to make new pandemic lows yet again this week. For...