ZF News and Press, Virtus Total Return Fund Inc. From 09/14/21

Interest rates are falling following the weaker CPI reading. Rates are likely to fall even further as the economy continues to slow. However, this time falling rates won't result in growth stocks rising. For further details see: Falling Rates Won't Save Growth Stocks Thi...

In addition to battery element shortages, the chip shortage has limited electric vehicle production. At the auto show in Munich last week, several auto executives commented on the chip shortage. Overall, the electrification of vehicles may be characterized by perpetual shortages for y...

As the economy continues to recover, market participants will concentrate on two critical areas: the employment picture and policy decisions made by the Federal Reserve. The jobs picture and Fed decisions could create volatility for commodities, stocks and bonds in the months ahead. ...

The current slowdown was telegraphed by the bond market, and we’re now in the midst of it. There are any number of reasons to think the economy will just keep fading all the way back to the pre-COVID trend of about 2%. I don’t see any reason to believe we are near recess...

Investing should be as unemotional as possible. Unfortunately, the higher the stakes, the more emotions get involved. All of the major banks have been gradually working their way to becoming bears. This is shocking because investment banks are always bullish. Things have probably ...

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the government will run out of money by the middle of October, sooner than expected, and that Congress needs to act pronto. With all the hyped-up performative bloviating about the debt ceiling, it’s easy to forget that raising the debt ...

We stay tactically overweight European equities with two key events on the horizon: a European Central Bank meeting and the German election. U.S. jobs growth in August was far below expectations. Yet, we caution that seasonality could be at play and a revision upwards is possible. ...

Today's release of the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) shows the demand for employees continues to grow. The July report shows openings increased 749,000 to a record for the Survey of 10.9 million open positions. Clearly, openings far outpace those looking for a job...

The missing, but long-overdue correction in stocks is probably a factor of the relentless pumping of electronic dollars into the financial system at a rate of $120 billion per month, causing the Fed balance sheet to rise to $8.349 trillion at last count. Suppressing bond market volati...

Despite the lowball jobs total on Friday, plenty of good news is buried in the small print, like massive revisions to the previous two months. In addition, Hurricane Ida may have suppressed reporting of August payroll data. There are some more clues in the ADP reported last Wednesday,...