The Cumberland Advisors Week in Review is a recap of news, commentary, and opinion from our team.
These are not revised assessments, and circumstances may have changed in the market from the time of original publication. We also include older commentaries that our editors have determined may be of interest to our audience. Your feedback is always welcome.
CUMBERLAND ADVISORS' WEEKLY RECAP
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Lots of Muni Bonds Are Going to Be Just Fine
by Barry Ritholtz - April 13, 2020
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- In an extraordinary attempt to help the economy in the midst of the coronavirus economic downturn, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has ballooned to more than $6 trillion.
How this has affected fixed-income pricing, yield, risk and even trading is the subject of this week’s Masters in Business interview with John R. Mousseau, president, chief executive officer and director of fixed income at Cumberland Advisors. Mousseau also is the co-author of the book “Adventures in Muniland: A Guide to Municipal Bond Investing in the Post-Crisis Era.”
He notes the current slump is very different from the 2008-09 financial crisis. That event was driven by credit deterioration and mortgage defaults. Things only came to a head only after defaults soared and bond markets developed liquidity problems after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. In the fixed-income world today, the coronavirus pandemic is characterized mostly by economic paralysis, but so far not mass defaults.
Full story at Yahoo Finance: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lots-muni-bonds-going-just-153254865.html
Court rules Puerto Rico residents eligible for SSI program
by Robert Slavin - April 14, 2020
A federal appeals court has upheld a decision that people in Puerto Rico are eligible for the Supplemental Security Income program.
As many as 700,000 people may be impacted by Friday's ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The Social Security Administration runs SSI, which provides money to low-income people who are disabled, blind, or over 65. It also provides money to families with disabled children.
The appeals court ruling may impact as many as 700,000 people in Puerto Rico.Bloomberg News
Puerto Rico currently has a program jointly funded with the federal government that provides funds to these groups.
According to Jenniffer González-Colon, Puerto Rico's non-voting representative in Congress, the average SSI beneficiary receives $553 monthly, whereas the average beneficiary under the Puerto Rico program receives $77 monthly. The maximum income permitted for an individual to qualify for SSI is $750 per month, compared to a maximum of $65 per month for the Puerto Rico program.
Cumberland Advisors Portfolio Manager Shaun Burgess said that he expected SSI to have more impact by allowing the local government to save money on the existing program than as a stimulus on the local economy. Cumberland owns insured Puerto Rico bonds.
Read the full story at The Bond Buyer: https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/court-rules-puerto-rico-residents-eligible-for-ssi-program
More News About Cumberland Advisors Here: https://www.cumber.com/news
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary offers insights and analysis on upcoming, important economic issues that potentially impact global financial markets. Our team shares their thinking on global economic developments, market news and other factors that often influence investment opportunities and strategies. Our readers appreciate its timeliness, depth of analysis, and quality of research.
To read current and past commentaries, visit www.cumber.com/category/market-commentary/
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – Narrow Banks
Author: Robert Eisenbeis, Ph.D., Post Date: April 17, 2020
In a move largely overlooked due to the virus pandemic, on March 25, Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a case filed by principals of The Narrow Bank (TNB) against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (https://www.tnbusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/2020.03.25-TNB-Order.pdf). What is The Narrow [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – Fed Goes to War
Author: David R. Kotok, Post Date: April 16, 2020
The April 12, 2020, posting on the Money, Banking and Financial Markets site, entitled “The Fed Goes to War: Part 3,” expands on the discussion of the extraordinary measures taken recently by the Federal Reserve. Let me offer a personal endorsement: I find the site consistently and exceptionally helpful. Much has already been written about about this expansion of the Fed’s arsenal and the list of new facilities. Essentially, the playbook for last decade’s Great Financial Crisis has been reopened, and a whole new set of tools has been added. [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – A Very British Affair — Living with COVID-19 in the UK
Author: Kevin Humphreys, Post Date: April 15, 2020
Kevin Humphreys is a long-time commentary subscriber from the other side of the pond. He is a London-based independent financial market analyst and commentator with 23 years of trading and management in tier 1 UK banks followed by another 10 years in broking, management and market analysis roles, specializing in Eurozone and UK markets. Kevin [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – Governors and the States
Author: David R. Kotok, Post Date: April 13, 2020
“Governor Gavin Newsom said that he would use the bulk purchasing power of California ‘as a nation-state’ to acquire the hospital supplies that the federal government has failed to provide. If all goes according to plan, Newsom said, California might even ‘export some of those supplies to states in need.’ “‘Nation-state.’ ‘Export.’ “Newsom is accomplishing [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Commentary – The Biblical Rembrandt
Author: David R. Kotok, Post Date: April 12, 2020
In Amsterdam in 1632 , a talented young artist, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, was commissioned to produce five etchings of biblical scenes. Rembrandt was born in 1606 and this was his breakthrough engagement, at age 26. His patron was Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange, the Dutch sovereign. Rembrandt was inspired by Rubens’s altarpiece in [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – Repos Revisited
Author: Robert Eisenbeis, Ph.D., Post Date: April 9, 2020
On March 12, a Wall Street Journal headline announced, “Fed to Inject $1.5 Trillion in Bid to Prevent ‘Unusual Disruptions’ in Markets” (https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-to-inject-1-5-trillion-in-bid-to-prevent-unusual-disruptions-in-markets-11584033537). The inference was that the Fed was embarking upon a massive injection of funds into short-term money markets. That is, the first three offerings of $500 billion each were but the first [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Guest Commentary – Timely Data Matters
Author: Samuel E. Rines, Post Date: April 8, 2020
My friend and Camp K veteran, Sam Rines ( Chief Economist at Avalon Investment and Advisory), has an excellent discussion on high frequency data and how critical it is in the current environment. He is kind enough to give us permission to share the entire piece entitled, “Timely Data Matters,” with our readers. Thank you, [Continued…]
Cumberland Advisors Market Commentary – WW2 versus WWC: The Doolittle Moment
Author: David R. Kotok, Post Date: April 7, 2020
We’re going to look at World War 2 (WW2) versus the World War COVID-19 (WWC) events now unfolding and see what we can glean about markets, economies, interest rates, inflation rates, and the overall outlook. Let’s start with the stock market. We expect this will be a multi-part series. Below is a chart that shows [Continued…]
The War in Europe
Author: William Witherell, Ph.D., Post Date: April 3, 2020
During the first quarter of 2020, Europe once again found itself to be in the center of a global war, this time against an invisible, very deadly enemy, the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. At the end of the quarter, on March 31, the 19 countries of the Eurozone had 359,296 confirmed cases of the [Continued…]
The CDC Foundation
Author: David R. Kotok, Post Date: March 23, 2020
Dear readers. The CDC Foundation is not widely known. It’s a 501(c)3 that was created by Congress as a special charitable agency. The Foundation works right alongside the CDC and other national health agencies but is an independent charity. It has a special-purpose charter. Its purpose is to respond rapidly to threats like COVID-19 or [Continued…]
John Mousseau will be part of a MoneyShow presentation next week (Apr 23, 2020 1:00 PM - 7:30 PM EDT) and his talk will be Bond Markets Through the Coronavirus. He'll cover analysis of treasury, taxable, and municipal markets, federal monetary policy, and administration of fiscal policy. More info, talks by other speakers, and registration can be found here: Resetting Your Portfolio in a Changing World
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Cumberland Advisors Market Commentaries offer insights and analysis on upcoming, important economic issues that potentially impact global financial markets. Our team shares their thinking on global economic developments, market news and other factors that often influence investment opportunities and strategies.
