Perspectives

Last week the stock of Dollar General declined over 25 percent in one day. The reason was reported to be earnings that were reported below consensus and a subdued outlook. Other dollar chains such as Dollar Tree declined in unison. The prior investment case for Dollar...

Investing in 500 stocks sounds like diversification. If one goes down, the other 499 perseveres. This is not exactly the way the S&P 500 works. The index is weighed by capitalization which is defined as the price per share times the number of shares outstanding....

Last May, Starwood Investors placed a limit on the monthly withdrawals from its private commercial real estate funds it manages. It did so to avoid having to sell assets at a loss to meet redemptions. Starwood manages about $10 billion in assets in what is estimated...

The annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway has been dubbed the “Woodstock of Capitalism”. People flock from all over the world to attend the event, held on the first Saturday in May in Buffet’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. It is covered live by CNBC, the one...

In 1949 there was, like today, a shortage of affordable housing. Soldiers were returning from abroad eager to start families, but there was little to no housing available. This was due to the imbalance of supply and demand which led to a strong undercurrent of...

At its most basic, interest rates reflect supply and demand. Supply comes from the amount of money in circulation and demand from the various parties who, for their own reasons, desire to borrow. In a free market the two sides agree upon a given cost for money, called...

March 5, 2024, witnessed a remarkable sight. Bitcoins set an all-time high and then plunged tenpercent in the same day. Bitcoin prices did stabilize by the end of the day and saw some recovery fromthe lows. Their movement also impacted parts of the stock market, with...

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was first devised in 1914 to tell the government how much faster prices were rising in coastal towns where warships were being built. Theidea was that the government would add to the wages of defense workers in such localitieswhere...

My first employment out of graduate school at Vanderbilt was with the New Yorkfirm of Kidder, Peabody & Company. The firm brought people in to discuss variouspertinent topics to the training class. For economics we were lectured by a Professor Gamerov. He posed...