Our discussion last week of the Fed’s confusing position on interest rates drew a number of favorable comments. “This is precisely right,” one reader wrote us. “They should just go ahead and raise rates. The more they delay, the tougher it’ll get.” But our reference to the economy as a “Goldilocks environment” left at least…
The thirteen-hour drive back from our North Carolina beach retreat afforded plenty of time to conjure up snappy post-Dodd Frank tourism slogans (“Welcome to the Outer Non-Banks!”) and spot amusing bumper stickers (“My Other Car is Driverless”). In general, though, our thoughts last week kept drifting back to the state of the capital markets as…
As we prepared this past weekend to escape the 95°F cauldron of Manhattan for the relief of the 98°F oven in the Outer Banks, our thoughts turned to which industries have proven to be the hottest so far this year. In terms of new issues for middle market sponsored transactions, healthcare has been the most…
Xavier University announced last week the installation of the nation’s first pizza ATM. The $55,000 machine’s capacity is 300 medium-sized pies a day, with orders taking three minutes from refrigerator to cardboard box serving. Preparation for the dining hall staff consisted of “40 hours of training each from a French chef.” Besides restoring our faith…
Call it an ironic twist. An actor named David Harbour, portraying Achilles in Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida” in Central Park last week, ruptured his Achilles tendon in a fight scene. Mr. Harbour later tweeted, “I’m so method.” No word whether critics considered his final performance a stretch. Speaking of drama, the Fed elected not to…
The setting was Arlington Park, a storied horse racing venue about a forty-five minute Uber ride northwest of Chicago. We had just lost $50 on a “sure thing” in the 5th race, though we should have been suspicious with a horse named Diminishing Return. The summer gathering there was hosted by one of the leaders…
Luis Polonia, the former outfielder for nine major league baseball teams in the 1990’s, once observed of the late Yankees owner, George Steinbrenner: “He’s only interested in one thing. And I don’t know what that one thing is.” We recalled Mr. Polonia’s pronouncement last week as we surveyed lenders on the state of the middle…
“What’s the most depressing holiday?” Suspecting a joke, we hesitated before answering our friend’s query at a backyard barbecue last Saturday. “July 4th,” he said without waiting. Really? “It means the summer is almost over,” he finished glumly. For credit market participants, the year’s too-swift passage also signals 2016’s halfway point – time to reflect…
The onset of renewed market volatility last week reminded credit participants that exogenous events do impact prices and new issuance, though to differing degrees. Broadly syndicated loan and high-yield bond markets both saw price declines in secondary trading. But new junk issuance slowed to a crawl after the Brexit vote, while loan activity continued uninterrupted. This…
“Thank God for the Electoral College.” Thus the co-head of a major credit trading desk put a brave face on the US political outlook after last week’s stunning Brexit vote. And while the wisdom of our Founding Fathers may shield us from a similar upheaval in the direct popular vote for President, there’s no guarantee…