Leading Independent Investment Research, Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar

Leading Independent Investment Research

Morningstar, Inc.

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. We offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. 

Morningstar provides data on more than 500,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 16 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $180 billion in assets under advisement or management as of June 30, 2015. We have operations in 27 countries.

Download the Morningstar Fact Sheet : http://corporate.morningstar.com/US/documents/MarketingFactSheets/AboutMorningstarFactsheet.pdf

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

A shrinking work week and lackluster hourly wage growth amid higher inflation could be pinching consumers.A weak consumption report for February and huge downward revisions to the January consumption growth rates indicate that some of last week's caution may have been warranted.  Soft auto data at the end of the week indicated that consumption growth may not accelerate in March.The two other big pieces of data last week were the U.S. employment report, which was slightly better than expected, and purchasing data from around the world that came in better than hoped, with forward-looking data on new orders driving the composite index sharply higher, especially in the United States.Analysts: Robert Johnson &amp; Alina Tarlea

A shrinking work week and lackluster hourly wage growth amid higher inflation could be pinching consumers.A weak consumption report for February and huge downward revisions to the January consumption growth rates indicate that some of last week's caution may have been warranted.  Soft auto data at the end of the week indicated that consumption growth may not accelerate in March.The two other big pieces of data last week were the U.S. employment report, which was slightly better than expected, and purchasing data from around the world that came in better than hoped, with forward-looking data on new orders driving the composite index sharply higher, especially in the United States.Analysts: Robert Johnson &amp; Alina Tarlea

Core inflation may be heating up as the Fed is putting too much confidence in low energy prices.Most of the Fed's economic forecasts were little changed. It is expecting lower energy inflation, which it seems to believe will take off some of the pressure to raise interest rates sooner.However, this week's detailed inflation data grew more worrisome even as the headline report for February showed a seemingly tame deflation rate of 0.2%, driven almost entirely by falling energy prices, which are already rising again in March....Analysts: Robert Johnson &amp; Roland Czerniawski

Core inflation may be heating up as the Fed is putting too much confidence in low energy prices.Most of the Fed's economic forecasts were little changed. It is expecting lower energy inflation, which it seems to believe will take off some of the pressure to raise interest rates sooner.However, this week's detailed inflation data grew more worrisome even as the headline report for February showed a seemingly tame deflation rate of 0.2%, driven almost entirely by falling energy prices, which are already rising again in March....Analysts: Robert Johnson &amp; Roland Czerniawski

Did the Fed Forget to Look at the February Inflation Report?

Equity Bottom-Up

Berkshire Hathaway Inc Cl B / Equity Bottom-Up

While we don't dispute the value Berkshire Hathaway has created through its insurance operations, we think investors draw two incorrect conclusions from its success.First, we think many are drawn to insurers that attempt to generate alpha on the investment side, while we believe the only sustainable competitive advantages are on the underwriting side.Second, we think many investors' view of reinsurance is too favourable, which is dangerous given current reinsurance trends.Analyst: Brett Horn

While we don't dispute the value Berkshire Hathaway has created through its insurance operations, we think investors draw two incorrect conclusions from its success.First, we think many are drawn to insurers that attempt to generate alpha on the investment side, while we believe the only sustainable competitive advantages are on the underwriting side.Second, we think many investors' view of reinsurance is too favourable, which is dangerous given current reinsurance trends.Analyst: Brett Horn

Berkshire Is a Good Insurance Operator, but a Bad Role Model

Transport Sector, China and Asia-focused Research

Charles De Trenck

Short answer: We get more Larry Summers editorials.Long answer…Larry Summers, a key accidental architect of Wall Street’s GFC of 2008-09 and neo-Keynesian piece of work, wants to do away with the $100 bill based on evidence most big bills are used for criminal purposes.Citing work by Harvard colleagues from <a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/awp/awp52" target="_blank"> Harvard Study</a>, Summers is fully armed, failing of course to realize that criminals were around before him and will continue to launder money for a long time to come, even if they have to do…

Short answer: We get more Larry Summers editorials.Long answer…Larry Summers, a key accidental architect of Wall Street’s GFC of 2008-09 and neo-Keynesian piece of work, wants to do away with the $100 bill based on evidence most big bills are used for criminal purposes.Citing work by Harvard colleagues from  Harvard Study, Summers is fully armed, failing of course to realize that criminals were around before him and will continue to launder money for a long time to come, even if they have to do…

Keynesian Brain Twister: What Happens When We Get Inflation & Negative Rates?

EM PM, Ecstrat

Emad Mostaque

EM PM

Ecstrat

Ecstrat is a consultancy advising on asset allocation between global equity markets, with a focus on the intersection of governments, geopolitics, governance and markets.
 
Over the past few years and more especially since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC), investors have become more focused on short-term market movements and real-time returns and have consequently neglected the analysis of the underlying structural themes that underpin longer term performance.
​
More specifically we believe that the evolution of governance-based relationships between investors, controlling shareholders, labour and the state is one of the primary determinants of both relative and absolute performance between individual equity markets.
 
We will endeavour to provide investors with some of the context surrounding governance-related issues which encompass many different disciplines including history, economics and political science, as well as the financial metrics which are the most obvious manifestation of the structural characteristics of each market.
 
We will pay particular attention to the shifts and potential inflection points for governance in individual markets as these are often the best lead indicators for both economic and market performance.

In the wake of what looks to be the second most deadly terror attack since 9/11 (the first being the horror that was Beslan), we look at the&nbsp;local and regional ramifications.&nbsp; It does not make for cheerful reading as the terrorist threat continues to evolve and extend its tendrils, with a&nbsp;nuanced response needed. Egyptians are working hard and I hope they pull through. This also highlights the severe geopolitical risk in the region, which I believe is the highest in a decade, even as OPEC spare capacity is at 08 lows.

In the wake of what looks to be the second most deadly terror attack since 9/11 (the first being the horror that was Beslan), we look at the&nbsp;local and regional ramifications.&nbsp;  It does not make for cheerful reading as the terrorist threat continues to evolve and extend its tendrils, with a&nbsp;nuanced response needed. Egyptians are working hard and I hope they pull through.  This also highlights the severe geopolitical risk in the region, which I believe is the highest in a decade, even as OPEC spare capacity is at 08 lows.

United States

W. R. Berkley Corporation, an insurance holding company, conducts operations in various segments of the property casualty insurance business.  Segments include specialty lines of insurance, alternative markets, reinsurance, regional property casualty insurance, and international.

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Wr Berkley Corp (WRB US)

Slower Income Growth Lurking

A shrinking work week and lackluster hourly wage growth amid higher inflation could be pinching consumers.A weak consumption report for February...

Morningstar, Inc.

Did the Fed Forget to Look at the February Inflation Report?

Core inflation may be heating up as the Fed is putting too much confidence in low energy prices.Most of the Fed's economic forecasts were little...

Morningstar, Inc.

Berkshire Is a Good Insurance Operator, but a Bad Role Model

While we don't dispute the value Berkshire Hathaway has created through its insurance operations, we think investors draw two incorrect conclusions...

Morningstar, Inc.

Keynesian Brain Twister: What Happens When We Get Inflation & Negative Rates?

Short answer: We get more Larry Summers editorials.Long answer…Larry Summers, a key accidental architect of Wall Street’s GFC of 2008-09 and...

Charles De Trenck

Egypt on the brink

In the wake of what looks to be the second most deadly terror attack since 9/11 (the first being the horror that was Beslan), we look at the local...

Emad Mostaque

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