With deep roots on the sell-side, serving in strategist roles at both Miller Tabak and BTIG, Dan Greenhaus is now Chief Strategist at Solus Asset Managment, a multi-billion dollar AuM firm with expertise in distressed and high yield investing.  Our conversation considers economics in theory and practice, differentiating classic academic training from the role someone like Dan plays on a trading desk supporting clients, portfolio managers and an investment process.

Here, Dan shares the importance of understanding what’s in the price and details his efforts to evaluate consensus by talking to other strategists around the Street to understand baseline expectation. This is some part of what he describes as his role as blindside tackle at Solus, working to identify areas of macro uncertainty that may be under-appreciated.

We talk about the current state of the economy and the stance of Fed policy. On the latter, Dan argues that while the impact of tighter policy on slowing has been much less rapid than anticipated, it has worked. And while he’s successfully faded the repeated calls that the consumer was going to crack over the past two years, he now sees signs worth paying close attention to. He points to simple measures like weekly jobless claims and also puts stock in Visa’s recent earnings call in which weakness was cited across multiple spending categories.

Dan’s study of prior Fed easing cycles suggests that rate cuts have typically come too late to offset broad-based economic weakness. Will this time be different?  Perhaps, given the strength of both household balance sheets and fiscal spending. But, as with everything in the realm of markets and investing, Dan properly asserts that we must approach forecasts with humility.

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Alpha Exchange, my conversation with Dan Greenhaus.