(Berlin)

The future of the EU is an open question, and one that seems to be growing bleaker once again. Much of the cultural mood that preceded Brexit is now taking hold in Germany. German media is angry at the ECB about robbing its savers of income with very low or negative interest rates. News outlets refer to the “expropriation” of German assets (a term with huge historical resonance). Altogether, the German people are angry about their wealth funding the rest of an EU they see as squandering it.

FINSUM: Germany has benefitted disproportionately from the Euro as it keeps their currency artificially weak. Yet it is also true that hard working Germans have been subsidizing the irresponsible finances of southern Europeans for years. It seems a way off, but Germany could be the next EU domino.

(New York)

The market is going through a fit, and it is entirely self-induced. Firstly, the Fed hit markets with an unexpected lack of dovishness earlier this week. Then, just a day after, President Trump did what many feared he would—he announced another large round of tariff hikes on $300 bn of Chinese goods. Many suspect the move is part of an effort to push the Fed into cutting rates after it downgraded its language to calling the trade war merely a “simmer”. Markets fell sharply on the news.

FINSUM: Trump is trying to push both China and the Fed. It will likely work with the former, as they don’t have much of a choice if the economy looks vulnerable, but this is certainly not going to help China get back to the table.

(New York)

The rate cut is not like investors hoped. While the key rate was cut 25 basis point, it did not come with a wealth of dovish future guidance. Still, the cut is going to make a big impact in certain areas, not the least of which is in growth stocks. Growth stocks are likely to pull further ahead of value stocks as “In an environment where rates indeed go lower, growth stocks are just mathematically worth more”, according to MFS strategist Rob Almeida, continuing “So the terminal value for a growth company is higher, because of the discount rate, than it is for a cyclical company”.

FINSUM: The truth is that growth stocks have been doing so well because their growth is real and not just financial (just look at P/E ratios versus the Dotcom bubble). The rate cut will help keep the engine going.

(New York)

The $36.6 bn Vanguard Dividend Growth fund (VDIGX) is finally reopening its doors to new investors. The fund has been closed to new investors for 3 years, but the manager says “After careful analysis of the fund’s current cash flows, we’re confident that there is ample capacity to reopen the fund”. The fund’s five-year annual return is 12.1%, besting the Russell 1000 by 1%. The fund’s average stock holding has a market cap of $110.6 bn, and its top five holdings are McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, American Tower, Medtronic, and Microsoft.

FINSUM: Vanguard funds are enormously popular for a reason, and this is an exceptionally well-performing fund that is finally reopening. Seems like a good buy.

(New York)

While headline economic numbers for the US economy have been good, there are some signs on the margins that things may not all be well. For instance, new data out of the shipping and trucking industry looks poor. The whole US trucking industry is in bad shape because of excess inventory and soft demand. “We’re three months into a freight recession”, says a transport analyst. Relative to last year at this time, there is less demand for capacity and that, coupled with an oversupply of trucks, means there’s little to no spot freight and all truckload prices have come down dramatically”, says the CEO of a freight broker. “Freight as we measure it is growing at less than 1% in 2019”, says the owner of an industry data provider.

FINSUM: So part of this is excess inventory, but another important factor is waning demand for freight, which is a leading indicator of an economic slowdown.