ZF News and Press, Virtus Total Return Fund Inc. From 08/01/21

Many fallacies are continually being propagated by the media about Covid's affect upon the market, as well as the Fed's impact upon the same. The market is still "destined" to rally to 4600SPX in 2021. The path to 4600SPX will likely be decided in the coming week. For furthe...

We don’t know for sure what the direction of interest rates will be, but they are likely to remain very low or at the present levels. Also, inflation indicators are mixed, and arguments can be made for a rising inflation trajectory that will ultimately lead to higher interest r...

The BEA calculated a headline quarterly change which was substantially less than anticipated. The continuously compounded annual growth rate from Q1 to Q2 2021 was just 6.3%, compared to 6.1% Q4 to Q1. Primarily, US consumers and goods are clear outliers compared to what’s goin...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that seasonally adjusted U.S. real GDP grew at a 6.5% annual rate in Q2. That’s well above the 3.1% average growth that the U.S. experienced over 1947-2019. The Q2 growth puts the level of GDP at a new high, 0.8% above the peak that was...

Real gross domestic product increased at a 6.5 percent annualized rate in Q2, up from a 6.3 percent pace in Q1. Real final sales to private domestic purchasers, a key measure of private domestic demand, rose at a very robust 9.9 percent annualized rate in Q2 following an 11.8 percent ...

Record low real yields across the world betray an exceptional degree of macro angst. Or do they? Don’t look at rates in isolation. Other markets are fine. The tide of central bank purchases lifts all boats, and normal liquidity conditions will only return at the end of the ...

Recently, downticks in Treasury yields are being met with selling pressure in value indexes and stocks. The stock market can’t make up its mind. Does it want high yields or low yields? This confusion is because inflation numbers are rising and interest rates are falling, which ...

The biggest beneficiary of the Covid-19 Delta variant fear is bond yields, since the 10-year Treasury bond decisively “cracked” the 1.2% level last week and actually hit a low of 1.133% on Tuesday. This means that either inflation fears are ebbing or there is a flight to qua...

Around the world, we are told that prices and sentiment are changing in an unexpected way. In scanning the present scene, I see lots of issues that should be reviewed, both in terms of numbers as well as structural concerns. Following the principle of winning by not losing, I sugg...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down nearly 1000 points at the low Monday and closed down 725, a loss of a little over 2%. The S&P 500 did a little better but closed down 1.5%. The markets rose through the rest of the week and ended on a high note. So, you got your chance to ...