ZF News and Press, Virtus Total Return Fund Inc. From 06/22/21

Last Tuesday, while the Federal Open Market Committee was meeting in Washington, DC, the Labor Department reported that the Producer Price Index (PPI) rose 0.8% in May, which is significantly higher than the economists’ consensus estimate of a 0.5% increase. Food prices rose 2....

Fed officials embraced higher 2021 inflation as contributing to their medium-term policy objective, opening the door to a 2023 lift-off. We see this shift as consistent with the Fed’s new framework, implying a much more muted response to inflation and supporting risk assets. ...

The question is - given the low in March ’09 and the previous highs exceeded in late April ’13 - is the secular bull market 13 years old or just a little over 8 years old, and does it matter? Not only are the S&P 500 and Nasdaq bumping all-time highs, but Europe and ...

The market this summer is shaping up to be what we predicted - like a rollercoaster. Up, down, all around - you end up back where you started, and it probably cost you money. We stated several weeks ago that the inflation trend was getting long in the tooth, as investors were crowded ...

Last week the Fed met, and for a few hours everyone thought it meant one thing, but by the next day, everyone had decided that it didn’t mean that at all. In the end, bond yields barely moved and the outlook for the economy only changed mildly. The 10-year Treasury note yield w...

Strategas Director of Policy Research Jeannette Lowe talks about the betting odds of a corporate tax rate hike coming down and how that plays into the ongoing debate around a potential infrastructure bill. She points out that the Senate is making progress on a bipartisan infrastructur...

At the FOMC meeting, the median outlook for core inflation this year drifted up to three percent from 2.1 percent (though the long-term inflation outlook didn’t change). Of more direct market consequence, the median “dot plot” around the Fed funds rate in 2023 had...

Market history of the past 11 years confirms this assertion. It is a gift given to us by the media. tales "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Today’s report was par for the course, causing a knee-jerk 382-point drop in the Dow, followed by a barrage of inane, Powe...

The Labor Department reported that the CPI rose 0.6% in May, bringing the total rise in the past 12 months to 5%. Does the FOMC still think that inflation is just “transitory?” - and will they begin to change their current accommodative policy? The Fed is in the proc...

BlackRock’s senior executives and portfolio managers discussed what lies beyond the restart - and investment implications - at our semi-annual forum. U.S. consumer price index (CPI) jumped in May and key drivers appear related to activity restart. Stocks rallied to record highs...