(New York)

Merrill Lynch took a big step yesterday. Seemingly espousing the same view as Jamie Dimon, the firm officially blocked clients and all advisors who act on their behalf from trading Bitcoin. The firm does not believe in the asset class’ investment suitability. The ban extends beyond direct purchases of the cryptocurrency and extends to all futures and funds that trade in bitcoin. Advisors reportedly have mixed feelings on the move, with some saying it is a missed opportunity.

FINSUM: In our opinion, Bitcoin is a solid idea and is here to stay, but it just has so much regulatory risk right now that we think only accredited investors should be allowed to have it in their portfolios.

(Washington)

Okay we have a major call to make today, and it could go well, or it could get ugly for us. Our contention is that despite fears of jumping inflation and growth, we believe rates and yields are going to rise only slowly. New Fed commentary shows that the central bank does not expect the new tax policy to significantly affect growth, which makes us feel they will lean towards dovishness. Additionally, with inflation remaining subdued, we think they won’t be under a great deal of pressure to hike. Finally, on the yields front, we expect that retiree demand for fixed income will keep a lid on yields. As proof, just look at how stock funds have seen three years of outflows, while bond funds have risen for over a year straight.

(London)

While it has largely faded from the American consciousness, the fallout over 2016’s Brexit vote has been nothing short of an absolute mess. The negotiations for departure have finally made a little progress, but are plagued by internecine warfare at every level. Now, a push for a second referendum, which could refute the first, is gaining traction. Former PM Tony Blair is urging his liberal party to back a second vote. Blair and Liberals believe that leaving the EU is not the solution that will fix the worries of Leave voters.

FINSUM: We think this situation only has upside for investors. If the UK reversed its positon, it would lead to a rally in the Euro and Pound and be bullish for most asset classes.

(New York)

Barron’s has put out a headline article by one of their most favored columnists, the well-known Byron Wien, which argues that stocks are in for a 10% correction this year. The argument is that the economy is going to keep doing well, which will lead to speculative buying getting out of hand. This, coupled with higher interest rates, will then cause a pullback of ten percent on the S&P 500 to around 2,300, but the market will rally strongly later, bringing it back to 3,000 for the end of the year.

FINSUM: This is a fairly complex call given the fall-then-rally argument. We overall don’t like this view, as we think if the market falls significantly, it might remain that way for several months.

(New York)

Anyone on the lookout for signs of a correction might want to pay attention to this. New data shows that US investors are avoiding US stock funds. Of the $4.1 bn poured into mutual funds and ETFs in the week ending December 27th, around 70% of the money flowed overseas. The trend is nothing new though, as US stock funds saw their third straight year of net outflows despite the market rising strongly. Taxable bond funds and international stock funds have seen 56 straight weeks of inflows.

FINSUM: We don’t think this is a warning sign of anything other than good times to come. US investors tend to put more money overseas when they are bullish, so this is not a negative sign.