KSCD News and Press, KFA Small Cap Quality Dividend Index ETF

Summary Inflation was hot in January. This is putting the Fed on a path to raise rates well above 5% in 2023. The equity market appears to have wrong on disinflation. To no surprise, CPI proved to be hot in January on a month-over-month basis, rising by 0.5%, in line with expe...

Summary While the rest of America was gearing up for the Super Bowl Sunday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised Q4 inflation numbers higher on Friday. This is actually huge news. Preprogrammed algos bought billions in stock off of November and December CPI off of faulty assumptio...

Summary The US trade surplus in services dipped further in 2022, from the already beaten down levels of 2021, to $244 billion, the lowest since 2012, and the fourth year in a row of declines. Imports of goods spiked by $425 billion, or by 15%, to $3.28 trillion. Exports of goods jum...

Summary It's been a while since we've seen a meaningful top in this bear market. Incidentally, 4,200 in the S&P 500 is the 20% bear market bounce many market participants have eyed as a plausible near-term top. The Fed, inflation, worsening economic readings, the consumer, an ea...

Summary There's a massive repricing in rates taking place. The Fed Funds Futures now see a peak terminal rate of 5.1%. The odds are rising that rates go even higher than those projections. All it took was one data point, and now the market is suddenly not only seeing things th...

Summary Three of the major investment themes of 2022 were: inflation and central bank responses; commodity and energy price spikes; and the China COVID lockdown. We discuss how each of these will likely play out in 2023. Our general market view for the year ahead is relatively sanguine,...

Summary On Wednesday we got a de-clawed hawk in Chairman Powell and he treaded carefully. For the first time, Powell acknowledged we are in a dis-inflationary environment and goods inflation is coming down fast. In my view, the most important quote of the press conference was, ...

Summary The first employment report of 2023 certainly surprised everybody. Friday morning’s report was the tenth straight better-than-expected report, which is a record and easily surpasses the prior peaks in September 2020 and March 2015. The US economy has added 4.967 milli...

Summary The jobs data surprised to the upside. The ISM data surprised to the upside. The stock market appears to be grossly mispriced relative to rates. The most stunning part of the FOMC press conference on Wednesday wasn't at the beginning or the middle. It came at the e...

Summary The Federal Reserve continues its quantitative tightening, and it keeps the pliers tight around the monetary facet. The Fed's securities portfolio continues to decline. The M2 money stock has now been in decline for about ten months. These data all seem to point toward a...