Top 10 Posts from 2020: COVID-19, The Silent Depression, Damodaran

By Paul McCaffrey

Posted In: Alternative Investments, Best Of, Coronavirus, Drivers of Value, Economics, Equity Investments, Fixed Income, History & Geopolitics, Leadership, Management & Communication Skills, Performance Measurement & Evaluation, Portfolio Management, Standards, Ethics & Regulations (SER)

1. Aswath Damodaran on Valuations amid COVID-19: “Go Back to Basics”

Don’t abandon valuation fundamentals during the COVID-19 crisis, says Aswath Damodaran: “It is precisely times like these that they matter most.” Julie Hammond, CFA, discusses insights from Damodaran’s presentation at the 73rd CFA Institute Annual Virtual Conference.

2. Republicans or Democrats: Who Is Better for the Economy?

Should we ignore claims that one political party or another is better for markets? Joachim Klement, CFA, sifts through the evidence.

3. Reading Financial News: The Top 10 Avoidable Distractions

“Stocks rallied because . . . ” Many types of financial news stories are best avoided. Binod Shankar, CFA, identifies those that most deserve to be ignored.

4. Know What You Don’t Know: Six Tips from Howard Marks, CFA

“Superior investing has to come from correct idiosyncratic decisions,” Howard Marks, CFA, told John Authers at the 73rd CFA Institute Annual Virtual Conference. Peter M.J. Gross considers Marks’s vantage point.

5. The Silent Depression: Trundling Is the New Booming

What do speeches by President Jimmy Carter and John Belushi’s Bluto Blutarsky say about today’s economy? Emil Kalinowski, CFA, gives his take.

6. Redefining Fixed Income

The golden age of fixed income is over, Mark Armbruster, CFA, writes. That means we have to rethink portfolio management and risk control.

7. The Novelty of the Coronavirus: What It Means for Markets

Does market history offer any parallels to today’s novel coronavirus crisis? Laurence B. Siegel weighs in.

8. Private Equity: Fooling Some of the People All of the Time?

“This time is different” might be the four most dangerous words in investing. “Uncorrelated returns” may just be the two most lucrative. So does private equity actually offer any? Nicolas Rabener examines the data.

9. Negative Interest Rates: The Logical Absurdity

“In and of themselves, upside-down rates — almost exclusively restricted to the sovereign bonds space — do make sense,” Emil Kalinowski, CFA, writes. “They reveal the high cost of staying solvent.”

10. Private Equity vs. Venture Capital: Opposite Investment Mindsets

Private equity and venture capital performance-enhancing techniques are not just different, says Sebastien Canderle, they are precise opposites.

If you liked this post, don’t forget to subscribe to the Enterprising Investor.

All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Tags: Alternative Investments, Aswath Damodaran, bonds, central banking, CFA Institute Annual Conference, Coronavirus, equities, fixed income, Howard Marks, Investment Management Strategies, Monetary Policy, Negative Interest Rates, Portfolio Management Techniques, Private Equity, stocks, valuations, Venture Capital

Share On

About the Author(s)

Paul McCaffrey

Paul McCaffrey was formerly the editor of Enterprising Investor at CFA Institute. Prior to that role, he served as an editor at the H.W. Wilson Company. His writing has appeared in Financial Planning and On Wall Street, among other publications. He is a graduate of Vassar College and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.