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Data Update 4 for 2021: The Hurdle Rate Question!

Musings on Markets

What is a hurdle rate for a business? In this post, I will start by looking at the role that hurdle rates play in running a business, with the consequences of setting them too high or too low, and then look at the fundamentals that should cause hurdle rates to vary across companies. What is a hurdle rate?

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Data Update 3 for 2021: Currencies, Commodities, Collectibles and Cryptos

Musings on Markets

As stock and bond markets went through these gyrations, it should come as no surprise that the same forces were playing out in other markets as well. Currencies : A currency serves three functions. There are a range of items that fall into this grouping from fine art to sports memorabilia to precious metals.

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Data Update 4 for 2024: Danger and Opportunity - Bringing Risk into the Equation!

Musings on Markets

In my last data updates for this year, I looked first at how equity markets rebounded in 2023 , driven by a stronger-than-expected economy and inflation coming down, and then at how interest rates mirrored this rebound.

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Risk = Danger + Opportunity!

CFO News Room

In the first few weeks of 2022, we have had repeated reminders from the market that risk never goes away for good, even in the most buoyant markets, and that when it returns, investors still seem to be surprised that it is there. Let me use two illustrations to bring this home.

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In Search of Safe Havens: The Trust Deficit and Risk-free Investments!

Musings on Markets

I was reminded of that paper a few weeks ago, when Fitch downgraded the US, from AAA to AA+, a relatively minor shift, but one with significant psychological consequences for investors in the largest economy in the world, whose currency still dominates global transactions. and the reverse will occur, when risk-free rates drop.

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Data Update 4 for 2022: Risk = Danger + Opportunity!

Musings on Markets

In the first few weeks of 2022, we have had repeated reminders from the market that risk never goes away for good, even in the most buoyant markets, and that when it returns, investors still seem to be surprised that it is there. Let me use two illustrations to bring this home.

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Data Update 1 for 2021: A (Data) Look Back at a Most Forgettable Year (2020)!

Musings on Markets

I spent the first week of 2021 in the same way that I have spent the first week of every year since 1995, collecting data on publicly traded companies and analyzing how they navigated the cross currents of the prior year, both in operating and market value terms.