Economy
Two weeks into the new calendar year, and feels like all heck has broken loose. There has been a lot of red ink in the US financial markets. Stocks, bonds, currency? Take your pick. US dollar-denominated…
At the start of it, had you told me 2021 was going to be almost as bizarre as 2020, I wouldn’t have believed you. How could it possibly? The key word here is almost, as, in…
We all had such high hopes for 2021, didn’t we? I can’t remember just how many times I said something along the lines of “I can’t wait to see 2020 in the rearview mirror,” but it…
Oakworth Capital Bank’s Investment Committee predicted the 3rd Quarter of 2021 would expand on the 2nd Quarter’s strong growth and market returns. Given the persistent tailwinds in the US economy, this was a relatively easy prediction.…
In this short series, the Investment Committee at Oakworth Capital Bank explored what might happen if, and when, interest rates rise. The first section focused on the bond market. The second analyzed what it could mean…
2021’s most inescapable cocktail party conversation may not actually be around a virus and its mutations, at least in some circles. Instead, this year’s winner may be our very own Central Bank’s decisions in regards to…
“We expect rates to move upwards over the next couple years” may be one of the most often repeated comments I hear every day in the financial media, and sitting right next to a tv with…
Through dumb luck and sheer happenstance some 30 years ago, I found myself working at a buy-side, bond trading desk in Baltimore. To say I didn’t really know what I was doing would be an understatement,…
The American public goes through the same spectacle every four years; actually, some would argue it is every two years. Suffice it to say, we go through it a lot. ‘It’ meaning campaign promises and ranting…
I have watched the Olympics with some regularity over the last two weeks, and will be sorry when they are over this weekend. It has been a nice break from what passes as prime time entertainment…