No company wants to report that its sales have declined. But when you’re Apple, which has consistently seen its revenues grow for more than twelve years, it’s not just bad news but a serious kink in a joyful narrative of boundless possibility. Earlier this week the company—the most valuable in the U.S.—told shareholders that revenues had declined by thirteen per cent.
Read moreThe Envestnet Edge, April 2016
The Envestnet Edge from April 2016
Read moreHow the GOP Made Obama one of America’s Most Powerful Presidents
Republicans have come to view Barack Obama not just as an ideological enemy but as a “dictator” — a president who has unconstitutionally abused his executive power with an array of unilateral actions.
Read moreYes, Donald Trump is Wrong About Unemployment. But He’s Not the Only One.
China’s Buying Up Foreign Companies, So the U.S. Might Need to Rethink its Trade Strategy
Chinese President Xi Jinping has a problem related to his nation’s growing demand for high-quality food and other agricultural products. In December 2013, Mr. Xi declared a strategic goal for China: to seize “the commanding heights in biotechnology,” in areas such as genetically modified organisms (GMOs). It must “not let large foreign companies dominate the agricultural biotechnology product market,” he said. However, China is still years behind the United States and Europe in research and development.
Read moreThe Chinese Want to Buy More American Companies — And we Should Let Them
China was poised to make its largest-ever investment in the United States this past week, after the Chinese insurance group Angbang topped Marriott in a bidding war for the Starwood hotel chain. The offer was extremely attractive: $14 billion in cash. But a chorus of skeptics urged Starwood to say no.
Read moreIf Volatility Continues, Don't Jump Off Markets Cliff: Pro
Looking at volatility in the markets, and how to maintain a smart strategy through the waves, with Zachary Karabell, Envestnet, and Matthew Roddy, Rockland Trust.
Read moreWhy Trump, Hillary Will Not Take Down the Market
In this election cycle, will investors be winners or losers? Let’s just get this out of the way: the bulk of this year will be consumed by election noise. There is no way around that. That noise, in turn, will drive out other stories, unless there is a major disruptive event (a terrorist attack, such as the recent one in Brussels, a natural disaster, unexpected political upheaval in the world, or expectations of a possible Brexit coming to fruition). That noise also will subtly influence investors’ behavior, or at least how they view the world. There is no way to avoid that.
Read moreIn a Low-Growth World, Forget About 10% Returns
Step away from the intense bouts of volatility that recently have characterized financial markets, and an important trend emerges that is unsettling investors large and small. With few exceptions, investments simply are not generating the average annual returns that they’ve come to expect.
Read moreThe Envestnet Edge, February 2016
The Envestnet Edge from February 2016
Read moreLearning to Love Stagnation
Economic stagnation, in short, has had little impact on the Japanese public’s high quality of life. This realization has led to a wave of new thinking in Japan that emphasizes a “degrowth,” or post-growth, model and focuses on well-being rather than income or output.
Read moreWhy America’s Youth Loves Bernie
This is not the 1960s. There is no war to fight; Sanders is not George McGovern. Hippies have become aging boomers, the parents and grandparents of today’s youth. The question is why an aging, rumpled socialist from earthy-crunchy Vermont is so popular right now.
Read moreRelax, Folks. We’re in a Normal Correction.
In case you have been otherwise engaged, it will not come as news that this has been a month marked by market turmoil. As far too many commentators and analysts have emphasized, the first two weeks of the year marked the worst start for U.S. equity markets ever. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 8% in the first 10 days of trading.
Read moreThe Envestnet Edge, January 2016
The Envestnet Edge from January 2016
Read moreAn Economy of Chicken Littles
The “nattering nabobs of negativism” (a phrase we have to thank Spiro Agnew for, via William Safire) are out in full force again in the financial and pundit world. While there was only occasional mention of the economy during the Republican debate last week, both the GOP contenders and market mavens seem to agree that the world is going to hell. They have different reasons: The Republicans think the world has become dangerously unstable and that Obama is a cause. Investors, who have pushed global financial markets sharply lower (the S&P 500 is now down almost 10 percent since January 1) to the worst start to a year ever, see the root cause as heedless central banks, a U.S. economy grinding to a halt, and a collapsing debt-laden China.
Read moreCharlie Rose Interview
Which jobs report do we pay attention to as a sign of the economy? Is it the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly jobs report, or how much Apple is selling on a quarter? And if you've looked at those over the past seven or eight years, they've been telling radically different stories.
Read moreMarket Stresses in 2015 Can Have Good Outcome
For the past few months, financial markets have been positioning for a change in Federal Reserve policy to move from “very easy and accommodative” to “easy and accommodative.” The decision of the Fed, finally, to raise short-term lending rates by 25 basis points was met with relief that months of will-they won’t-they were finally over. At the same time, the energy and commodity complex has continued to melt down as prices plummet. The result has been both an unusual amount of turmoil in fixed income markets and a rising chorus of voices anxiously drawing parallels to 2008-2009.
Read moreThe Envestnet Edge, December 2015
The Envestnet Edge from December 2015
Read moreHey, Donald: Washington Is Working!
The view of Washington as a dysfunctional system is deeply entrenched—and of course it’s the most popular meme on the GOP campaign trail. “Nothing works in our country,” Donald Trump said again at Tuesday night’s debate, repeating his favorite (and seemingly most effective) appeal to a base that’s disgusted with politics as usual. Yet the past week has been a blow to cynics everywhere, because lo and behold, Congress, the White House, and the Federal Reserve all acted on vital economic policy and did so with minimal drama.
Read moreHow the Economy Helps Trump
The American economy suffers from a split personality, and Donald Trump appears to be the chief beneficiary of this illness. A study just released by Pew shows that for the first time in decades, the middle class is no longer in the majority in the United States. Instead, the upper and lower classes are. Now the middle class—defined as people earning between two-thirds and twice the median income (from $42,000 to $126,000 a year)—constitute just under 50 percent of the earning populace. Twenty-nine percent are in the lower brackets, and 21 percent in the upper.
Read more