VT News and Press, Vanguard Total World Stock Index From 02/16/23

Summary In this post, I will focus on trend lines in profitability at companies in 2022, with the intent of addressing multiple questions. While absolute profits are a useful measure of profitability, you have to scale profits to a common scaling variable, to compare companies of differ...

Summary Global activity contracted at a shallower rate in the first month of 2023 according to the JPMorgan Global PMI. Consumer services clearly showed a more marked expansion in January compared to consumer goods. Financial services fared the worst amongst the industries tracked a...

Summary America and the world keep dodging recessions, like they did last year. The IMF just raised its 2023 global growth rate projection to 2.9% (from 2.7% last October), and they raised their U.S. GDP projection from +1.0% to +1.4% now. A 1.4% growth rate is not very exciting, but it...

Summary The Bank of Japan looks set to change its ultra-loose policy as inflation takes root. We see spillover risks to global yields, risk appetite and Japanese stocks. Global stocks fell last week and U.S. Treasury yields rose across the curve as markets partly priced out Federal Rese...

Summary For global equity investors, what’s important is to identify broad trajectories of growth and inflation rates, and then to forecast turning points, or changes in those trajectories. Olga Bitel, Global Equity Strategist, and Hugo Scott‐Gall, portfolio manager and co...

Summary International developed markets did a quick 180 off their October lows as the USD pulled back. Even with U.S. mega-caps outperforming in 2022, EFA is still performing relatively decently. I identify important prices on the chart as well as take an updated look at global valu...

Summary Developed economies remain the main source of the unusual outperformance of employment relative to output. An easing of global supply chain constraints has also helped encourage many businesses to raise their capacity expansion plans, notably in the US and Eurozone. Optimism...

Summary The S&P 500 index is almost unarguably the #1 benchmark followed by long-term investors, fundamental analysts, and short-term traders alike. I felt the need to explain 16 details about the S&P 500, I believe well-informed investors should know about this index, however t...

Summary In 2017, about 29% of S&P 500 revenues came from overseas. This fraction increased to about 40% by the end of 2022. Some investors argue that this global exposure is a substitute for true international diversification, i.e., that it is not required to invest in non-US stocks...

Summary Global manufacturing supply chains continued to show signs of healing in January which, combined with falling demand for factory inputs, points to weaker industrial price inflation in coming months. The number of reported supply chain delays fell for a ninth successive month in ...