One of the great unanswered questions in the field of investments is why closed-end mutual funds can trade at a persistent discount to their net asset value. This is the famous “closed-end fund puzzle” — what Burton Malkiel of Random Walk fame once called “one of the most enduring conundrums in the field of finance.” […]
News
It’s a Different Ballgame Now…
On March 15th, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark overnight lending rate a quarter point to a range of 0.75%-1.0%. The increase, together with a 0.25% bump last December, represents quite a shift. With a few brief exceptions, interest rates have been on a downward path since 1980. Markets have taken the Fed’s latest effort […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Where Do Great Investment Ideas Come From?
When experienced investors are asked where they get their ideas, they often say voracious reading or careful screening of companies for characteristics they like – or both. But there is wide variety in what they read – and widely divergent attitudes toward screening. Other sources of ideas include company visits, building expertise in obscure fields […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Does the Dwindling Number of U.S Stocks Matter?
In a recent paper called “The Incredible Shrinking Universe of Stocks,” Michael Mauboussin, Dan Callahan, and Darius Majd at Credit Suisse delve into why there has been such a sharp drop in the number of publicly traded stocks in the U.S. This is a U.S. phenomenon. In developed markets outside the U.S., the number of […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Hope for Europe
Suddenly, people are talking positively about Europe again. How fickle we are. Since the Great Recession, European stocks have underperformed those in the U.S., and the eurozone has been sieged by crisis and gloom. In contrast, the U.S. has been a star – and especially since the election, we haven’t been able to stop talking […]
Anne Doremus Invited to Judge CFA Institute Research Challenge
The CFA Society of Vermont hosted their first Local Research Challenge on February 8, 2017. The Challenge, sponsored by Champlain College, brings students from four Vermont colleges, investment professionals, and others together to work on company analysis and presentation skills. Anne Doremus served on the panel of judges for this Challenge. The case subject […]
Eric Hanson’s Investment Course is Offered at UVM
Eric Hanson is teaching a course, Personal Finance and Investing, through the Grossman School of Business at the University of Vermont during the Spring semester of 2017. This is an elective class open to the entire campus and described below. Description: It has been said that Economics is about “the allocation of scarce resources”. This is […]
Global Family Enterprise Case Competition at UVM
Anne Doremus returned to the annual Family Enterprise Case Competition (FECC) as a coach in 2017. The competition was held at the University of Vermont through the Grossman School of Business on January 12-14. While the FECC prepares participants to understand the issues unique to family enterprise, coaches play a critical role in facilitating the application […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Tough, demanding, empowered consumers
In last weekend’s Financial Times, Tyler Brûlé wrote, “Ten years ago, Slippers the cat used to have a choice of fish or chicken out of a tin. Today Slippers (if she’s still with us) can have vegetarian mousse with salmon aroma sprayed on top. Her owners can have it delivered before they leave for work, […]
Yep, China is Different…
Here in the U.S. about 90% of American’s have a FICO credit score but in China only about 30% of citizens do. It was initially thought that online spending would be slow to take off in China due to the lack of credit cards and a poor logistics system. Well “China is China” and companies […]
The Shale Revolution…Still Very Much Alive…
When crude prices collapsed from $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to below $30 in February last year, conventional wisdom was the Shale Revolution of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling was dead. ‘For Sale’ signs in places like Williston, North Dakota, ground zero of the Bakken oil fields, sprouted like weeds. Well, a year later the […]
Now What?…
If you’ve been following the news from South Korea, you might say that truth indeed is stranger than fiction. In fact, you really couldn’t make up this stuff if you tried. Starting last fall and culminating in the impeachment last week of former President Park Geun-Hye (pictured), there has been a series of bizarre stories […]
