The history of pandemics contains no exceptions: Crime and fraud flourish; governments deteriorate; corrupt behavior (lies and deception) abound; law and order are pressured by growth in societal instability. We now see the evidence worldwide, including in the United States.

The Treasury curve continued to flatten during the third quarter of 2021, with short-term Treasury yields rising while longer Treasury yields declined. The largest increase in yield is seen in the 5-year, which is up 10.4 bps to 0.995% as of 9/29/21. The biggest decline in yield is seen in the…

Will both infrastructure plans actually be enacted? The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a $1.2 trillion plan, focuses on traditional infrastructure such and roads and bridges, ports and waterways, and now includes cybersecurity and broadband. The $3.5 trillion Build Back…

Several clients asked about our overweight healthcare position and they wondered if it isn’t time to take profits. They noted that the Delta variant infection rate was peaking and that some folks believe we have reached “herd immunity.”  

The Fed entered its September meeting with some distressing and difficult information to digest, let alone spin a story as to why it did what it did.

As global economic growth appears to have slowed in the third quarter, international equity markets ended the quarter down some 2.58% over the three months through September 24th, as measured by the iShares MSCI ACWI ex US ETF, ACWX.

Evidence from China continues to mount about financial difficulties in the property sector and the debt markets. We see that with the Evergrande affair. Markets are worried about contagion reaching beyond China’s borders as well as about additional impacts within China. Those are two separate…

Two factors influenced the US stock markets in Q3. They are the Delta variant and tapering (Fed policy). They’re related.

In a commentary last week entitled “Jobs and Prices” (https://www.cumber.com/market-commentary/jobs-and-prices), some estimates were provided as to what we might expect the August CPI number to look

The dream of every fisherman is to fish in a wild stream — to be the first person in years to cast at completely wild fish. In a world of nearly eight billion people, such places are very difficult to find.