Liquidity

Liquidity Liquidity is one of the most confusing words in finance. The fact that it has multiple meanings, depending on the topic at hand, certainly doesn’t help matters. While we prefer to avoid that word, this is one of those times when it is unavoidable. In this case, liquidity is the amount of money sloshing […]
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It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Our title this week is also the title of a 1963 comedy. The movie is about a group of motorists that witness a deadly accident. The drivers’ final words are the location of a hidden stash of money. The situation quickly devolves into a wild and hilarious free […]
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It’s the Punch You Don’t See Coming that Knocks You Out

It’s the Punch You Don’t See Coming That Knocks You Out The banking crisis has been in the news for better than a month now, but we suspect that the real crisis is ahead of us, not behind us. The ‘disappearing deposits’ problem, that brought down SVB, Signature, and most recently First Republic, could be […]
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Expert Failure

Expert Failure Quite a few years ago, I had the privilege to hear Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, speak about the ramifications of expert failure. His point was simple: If an idiot makes a mistake, it doesn’t matter very much because logically, no one is listening to the idiot. However, if […]
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Deal, or No Deal?

Deal, or No Deal? The banking deposit crisis is receding, but the credit crunch is just starting. After 15 years of investment decisions dominated by the Fed Put (i.e., extremely low interest rates and pumping money into the economy, to rescue markets), the critical question investors currently have is whether the Fed will resume a […]
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Bank Failures Shine Light on Interest Rate Risks

Bank Failures Shine Light on Interest Rate Risks Financial markets reacted turbulently to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10, 2023, followed two days later by the failure of Signature Bank of New York. With $209 billion in assets and $175 billion in deposits, SVB was the nation’s 16th largest bank and […]
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