What Goes Up

If it can happen in Chile, it can happen anywhere. That’s what Bloomberg Opinion columnist John Authers wrote this week as demonstrations broke out across the South American nation, long considered one of Latin America’s most-stable democracies. He joins this week to discuss the consequences for markets and societies with similar economic systems. Also joining the podcast is Bloomberg reporter Molly Smith, who gives her take on the current state of credit markets.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Chile's Violence Has a Worrisome Message for the World

Authers' Newsletter: When Pensions Fail, People Get Angry

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The buzz on Wall Street this week was about the latest earnings reports from the big banks, and a Vanity Fair report on suspicious “Trump Chaos” trades in the futures market. Meanwhile, a small nation in the Caribbean still claims bragging rights as one of the world’s hottest stock markets. 

Breaking it all down this week are Bloomberg’s Felice Maranz and Chris Nagi. And the podcast welcomes a special guest, Jamaican commerce minister Audley Shaw, who explains how sky-high interest rates decades ago helped fuel growth in the nation’s junior stock market.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Credit Cards Are a ‘Bright Spot’ in Bank Earnings, Analysts Say 

‘There Is Definite Hanky-Panky Going On:’ The Fantastically Profitable Mystery of the Trump Chaos Trades

Welcome to Jamaica, Home of the World’s Best-Performing Stock Market

Analysts Have a Few Problems With Trump ‘Chaos Trades’ Article

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Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell this week insisted that a plan to buy Treasury bills to build up excess bank reserves wasn’t the same thing as the central bank’s previous asset purchases, known as quantitative easing, or QE for short. Markets, however, reacted similarly to how they behaved during QE, with risky assets like stocks rallying and the Treasury yield curve steepening. Medley Global Advisors Macro Strategist Ben Emons and Bloomberg reporter Luke Kawa discuss the significance of the Fed’s latest move.

Mentioned in this podcast:

A Repeat of 2018’s Rout Is Likely Coming, Veteran Investor Says

Nonsense Market Moves Have Investors ‘Exhausted’ by Trade Talks

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Officials from China are heading to Washington for trade talks next week, just as President Donald Trump battles the House of Representatives over impeachment hearings. How should investors prepare for the collision of these two stories? Kristina Hooper, chief global strategist at Invesco, joins the latest episode of the “What Goes Up” podcast to discuss.

"What the impeachment threat does is it creates fatter tails -- it increases the likelihood of extreme outcomes," says Hooper. "Whether it is greater likelihood that the U.S. takes minor concessions from China and calls it a deal. Or we could see something moving in the opposite direction where the U.S. takes a very extreme, aggressive position with China."

 Hooper also discusses why she recommends investors should take a look at emerging market debt. Also joining the podcast is Bloomberg Businessweek economics editor Peter Coy to break down the latest indicators and discuss his “Wealth Number” gauge of an individual’s net worth.

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Stephanie Flanders, head of Bloomberg Economics, returns to bring you another season of on-the-ground insight into the forces driving global growth and jobs today. From the cosmetics maker in California grappling with Donald Trump's tariff war, to the coffee vendor in Argentina burdened by the nation's never-ending crises, Bloomberg's 130-plus economic reporters and economists around the world head into the field to tell these stories. Stephanomics will also look hard at the solutions, in the lead-up to Bloomberg’s second New Economy Forum in Beijing, where a select group of business leaders, politicians and thinkers will gather to chart a better course on trade, global governance, climate and more. Stephanomics will help lead the way for those debates not just with Bloomberg journalists but also discussion and analysis from world-renowned experts into the forces that are moving markets and reshaping the world. The new season of Stephanomics launches Oct. 3.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to open a formal impeachment inquiry over President Donald Trump’s attempt to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joseph Biden exploded in the news this week, sending a shudder through America’s political foundation. For investors though, it triggered a simple question: How should I trade this?

Natixis Investment Managers Chief Market Strategist Dave Lafferty and Bloomberg reporter Luke Kawa join this week’s “What Goes Up’’ to break it all down.

“In the near term, it doesn’t strike me as something tradeable,” said Lafferty. “We don’t know what we don’t know at this point; we don’t know what the revelations will be.” As 2020 approaches, however, “it has a lot of real market implications going into the election.”

Lafferty also discusses using game theory to analyze how the impeachment proceedings may affect Trump’s trade war, and how central bank stimulus is having diminishing effects. “Super accommodative policy 10 years on now serves to undermine investor and consumer confidence, more than it does to instill it,” he said.

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A stock market trying to notch new record highs this week was thrown a great deal of curve balls. Attacks on Saudi oil facilities sent crude prices surging. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates for a second straight time through what was seen as a “hawkish cut.’’ And short-term financing costs went – as some called it – crazy. Joining this week’s "What Goes Up” podcast to make sense of it all is Liz Ann Sonders, the chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, and Alex Harris, who covers short-term funding markets for Bloomberg News.

Mentioned in this podcast:

 The Repo Market’s a Mess. (What’s the Repo Market?)

 ‘This Is Crazy!’: Wall Street Scurries to Protect Itself in Repo Surge

 Wall Street Races to Figure Out If the Quant Stock Shock Is Over

 Powell the ‘Artful Dodger’ Declines to Signal What Comes Next

 Oil Having Best Week in Eight Months as Iran Sanctions Toughened

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While on the surface it looked like a calm week for the stock market, there was a lot of turbulence down below. Rising interest rates caused investors to rotate out of once high-flying momentum and growth equities in favor of beaten-down value stocks.

This week’s “What Goes Up” podcast breaks it all down with Ken Fisher, the author of 11 books and billionaire founder of Fisher Investments.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Rob Arnott Wants to Take a Victory Lap on Factor Crowding Call

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When you think of the Periodic Table of Elements, what comes to mind? Maybe chemistry class, or flashbacks to memorizing combinations of letters and numbers. But what about markets? This week on “What Goes Up,” the team behind Bloomberg Businessweek’s latest issue joins to make the connection. Bloomberg's Joel Weber, Jeremy Keehn and Eddie van der Walt discuss elements from gold and silver to helium and gallium.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Bloomberg Businessweek’s The Elements 

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The cost of a bacon cheeseburger. The average size of a U.S. home, and the average number of people who live in it. The number of Google searches for words like “cheap gas,” “coupons” and “Dow Jones.” Nick Colas, the co-founder of DataTrek Research, tracks all of this and more on top of a regular diet of traditional market data. Also joining the podcast is Bloomberg reporter Emily Barrett, who discusses the ferocious bond-market rally and how the Treasury is flirting with the idea of issuing 50 or 100-year bonds.

Mentioned in this podcast:

 Mnuchin Risks Unsettling Markets With Ultra-Long Treasury Bonds

 Little to No Catalyst Is Needed to Push U.S. Yields Down Again

 In Trump’s Tweet-Speed Market, Facts Take Back Seat to Hope

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