The coronavirus outbreak in China, named COVID-19 by WHO, is understandably dominating news coverage and depressing Chinese risk plays. Since 12/9/2019 when the first coronavirus case was announced from the City of Wuhan, confirmed cases have risen rapidly to over 40,000 as of this report.
In our previous post, we sought to identify and quantify the investment opportunity or edge within various market capitalization segments. We found that the top 1000 names in the Russell 2500 benchmark constitute a sweet spot across the entire Russell 3000.Â
As the secular bull market in long term treasury bonds approaches its 40th year, the consensus around falling interest rates has morphed from a shared opinion to an accepted reality. Reputations and fortunes have been made and lost by adherents and skeptics respectively.Â
During the second half of 2019, the late cycle bull market for financial risk assets sprinted to the finish line despite lackluster global growth. Global markets ended the year on a bullish note, with the U.S. S&P 500 climbing to another record close.
The US equity markets exhibit observable biases over time, alternately favoring one group of stocks over others:Â large cap vs. small cap; value vs. growth; defensive vs. dynamic; sector rotation, etc. We questioned whether there was a longer term benefit to favoring one group of stocks over the others.
China has a long history of pioneering revolutionary change in payments. Coins dating from at least 700 BC have now been found in China, making it the first place in the world (that we know of) to issue coins.Â
