April saw major US equity indices battle their way to new highs – most notably, the NASDAQ Composite, which finally broached its all-time high from the tech bubble peak late after more than 15 years. They could not hold this ground, however, as volatility in European debt markets, a Euro rally/USD decline and very weak… Read more »

March opened with a modest, but not entirely unexpected pullback following February’s unsustainably strong equity and HY market performance as investors shifted to a decidedly “risk on” bias. (Feb saw the Dow, S&P 500 & NASDAQ indices advance 5.5%, 5.6% & 7.1%, respectively, while benchmark rates rose materially and the HY Master Index yield contracted… Read more »

Perhaps those errant reports of a Goldilocks economy sighting in the neighborhood weren’t entirely erroneous after all. Judging by February’s robust US equity and HY market performance, which came on the back of a lower than expected initial Q4 GDP report and economic data that seemed to ease concerns about an imminent change in Fed… Read more »

Heightened market volatility characterizing the end of 2014 carried into the new year, as equity and debt markets were buffeted throughout January by renewed global growth concerns, particularly in the Euro-zone, a soaring USD (reflecting bifurcation between the US and ROW (Rest of World)), and further dramatic declines in oil (down another 9.5% for the… Read more »

Judging by December’s chaotic/volatile/disjointed/etc. market performance, November rumors of a “Goldilocks” economic environment just around the corner appear to have been premature at best. Our latest Capital Markets Monthly discusses how oil’s dramatic price decline – down 38% from YTD highs at the end of Nov and another 12% in December alone – overwhelmed a… Read more »

November’s equity market action represented a rolling, upward boil relative to the sour-and-sweet (sharp downward spike, followed by a snapback rally) of October. It also hinted at presence of the “Goldilocks” economic environment (“not too hot, not too cold”) a number of economists believe us to be experiencing currently. Attached please find our high-level review of… Read more »

Vistage International, an executive-level peer advisory/educational organization with more than 18,000 members, interviews Aequitas co-founder David Pritchard on how companies should think about and balance the use of debt, equity and other forms of capital in funding their growth and development. Listen to the full interview here

Aequitas co-founder David Pritchard comments on investment banker Greg Smith’s high profile resignation from Goldman Sachs via an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times and the fundamental truths within his letter – that client service is secondary to profit for placement agents and that companies need to honestly assess and understand their relationship with… Read more »