FINSUM

FINSUM

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Wednesday, 06 March 2019 13:49

The Economy is Weakening Under Our Feet

(New York)

New payroll data has just been released and it is not saying anything positive about the underlying economy. According to ADP payroll figures, the US economy created 183,000 jobs in February, under estimates of 190,000 and well below the total of 300,000 in January. According to Moody’s analytics, “The economy has throttled back and so too has job growth”. The slowdown is most acute in the retail and travel industries and at smaller companies.


FINSUM: This is a pretty sharp pullback from January. The total number is still positive, but it will be interesting to see if this becomes a trend.

(Washington)

One of the most contested parts of the 2010 Dodd-Frank legislation was the legal mandate the act gave to regulators to create pay caps for Wall Street. The industry has fought tooth and nail to block their imposition, successfully curbing any changes for nine years. The last major push to cap pay was in 2016, but nothing has happened since then. Now a consortium of regulators, including the Fed, FDIC, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Reserve are coming together to create new rules. The most likely target are high ranking executives, but talks in the past have extended to rank and file employees.


FINSUM: Caps for top executives will be anathema to some, but restrictions for regular employees are a whole other issue that will cause a major uproar.

Tuesday, 05 March 2019 11:44

The Best New Fund Fee Structures

(New York)

Fund fees are a hot area, and not just in terms of them falling in absolute terms. While everyone is aware of Fidelity’s new zero fee index funds and the price war going on in top line fees, there are also new and interesting fund structures emerging. One kind of new fee model is called a fulcrum structure, where fees are low (ETF-like) unless the funds outperforms its benchmark, in which case the provider gets a performance fee. This kind of structure is more popular with mutual funds and can offer the best of both worlds—low fees for ordinary performance, or outperformance that comes with active management.


FINSUM: We think these kinds of funds offer a better alignment of interest while offering multi-sided benefits. However, the risk is that managers are incentivized to take excess risk in an effort to boost performance over the fulcrum threshold.

Tuesday, 05 March 2019 11:42

The Best Income Ideas Right Now

(New York)

Stable income is in the best place it has been for years. The yield curve has stabilized with rates at reasonable levels, which means finding decent-yielding investments isn’t nearly as hard as it was a few years ago. That said, income investments, especially at the higher-yielding end, have pitfalls. With that in mind, here are some good income ideas. The picks come from Franklin Templeton’s $73 bn Income Fund. Some of the top names held (holding assets across the capital structure) are Chesapeake Energy, Tenet Healthcare, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Softbank Group, and Bank of America.


FINSUM: This is a very energy and financials heavy group, which has its risks.

Tuesday, 05 March 2019 11:41

JP Morgan Says Stocks Headed Higher

(New York)

JP Morgan is joining the bullish bandwagon. While fear that the rally has been too fast permeates across the markets, JP Morgan is stepping in to say that they think the market has plenty of runway higher. The bank thinks stocks have a good tailwind behind them as a trio of positive factors exist: a dovish fed, a stable yield curve, and pending US-China trade deal. The bank thinks that stocks look like they did right after the 2015-2016 correction cycle, a period right before a big bull run.


FINSUM: We are starting to think that shares may have some good runway left. The correction in P/E ratios was a very healthy adjustment to end the year, and the macro situation is looking positive.

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