Europe is in steady recovery mode, benefiting from the delayed effects of QE. Eurozone Purchasing Manager Indices (PMIs) have been rising across manufacturing and service industries for the last 6 months. Industrial production is growing at a steady 1.9%. Inflation has risen to 1.9% headline and 1.2% core. GDP is forecast to rise at 1.70%

OPEC is doing a terrible job of managing the oil price. The oil price prognosis depends on the time frame. In the very long run, oil will no longer be a viable fuel for a planet facing global warming. In the very long run, demand will disappear as cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy are

VIX, an indicator of implied volatility for the US stock market, has been chronically low, and surprisingly low given the geopolitical and economic concerns in the economy. Market consensus is that the US stock market is expensive and that growth may not be as strong as expected, especially if the expected fiscal stimulus policies of

Fears of rising interest rates have motivated Asian investors to buy leveraged loans. The first real demand from Asia for leveraged loans came around the Taper Tantrum in 2013. The asset class did as it was intended and protected capital while delivering a rather unexciting return (as it was supposed to do.) Over-investment in the

The following is a chart of the Average Yield for US Corporate Bonds. The period of early 2015 indicated by the white line coincides with a slowdown in US manufacturing PMIs. * chart data source Bloomberg Since mid June 2016 we have seen corporate bond yields rising as a result of rising US treasury yields, reflecting