Category: Commentary/Video
170 posts categorized as "Commentary/Video"
10Sep
September 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
With COVID-19 largely on the decline across the United States, and much of the economy returning to some semi-balance of normal, we have begun to see the rough outlines of the economic shutdown’s long-term impacts and implications for recovery. This blog has previously questioned the extent to which the shutdown would have persistent effects on…
13Aug
August 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
The Astor Economic Index® has had a substantial improvement since the previous nonfarm payrolls report and is now at a level consistent with about average U.S. economic strength. Remarkably, this reading coincides with the AEI’s pre-COVID levels. As the chart below depicts, the AEI has effectively captured the twists and turns of the economy during…
31Jul
Rob Stein Q2 2020
Recording of Astor’s Q2 2020 call, where CEO/Founder, Rob Stein discusses the current economic environment, gives an update on Astor’s portfolios, and holds Q&A.
14Jul
July 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
As the pandemic goes, so goes the United States’ economy. To the extent that public health measures move in lockstep with the pace of COVID-19, this month’s data reflects that reality. With restrictions easing in most states, macroeconomic fundamentals have improved accordingly. Of course, as epidemiological data shows, the pandemic is far from having run…
12Jun
June 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
On balance, the macroeconomic data released last month indicate a turning point in the rate of change of economic trends resulting from the pandemic. In some instances, data suggest an outright reversal in the underlying trend. Accordingly, the Astor Economic Index (AEI) stabilized this month at a level historically consistent with poor macroeconomic fundamentals after…
27May
Rob Stein, CEO of Astor Investment Management on Government Spending and the Uncertainty in the Market in 2020 on Business First AM with Angela Miles
Watch Astor’s CEO and Founder, Rob Stein, on Economy Watch as he discusses government spending and the uncertainity in the market in 2020. AIM-6/29/20-VP75 The Astor Economic Index® is a proprietary index created by Astor Investment Management LLC. It represents an aggregation of various economic data points: including output and employment indicators. The Astor Economic…
20May
May 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
As expected, April brought new lows in the data we monitor, and with it our first full view of the economic impact of the pandemic. In many cases, the data are historical and record breaking. However, several green shoots have begun to emerge, although it is much too early to call the beginning of the…
21Apr
Protected: Rob Stein’s Q1 2020 ZOOM Meeting (For password, please email info@astorim.com)
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
20Apr
Letter to Investors: Brief Update on Astor Strategies
For A PDF Version of the Letter: Letter to Investors_April 2020 Dear Investors: On March 10th, I published my first ‘Letter to Investors’ of 2020. The U.S. and Global economies continue to change rapidly as the impact of COVID-19 ripples across the globe. At Astor, our job is to assess the amount of risk in…
13Apr
April 2020 Update on the U.S. Economy
As the pandemic and response escalated last month, we left this blog with several crucial watch points for the weeks ahead. In the intervening period we’ve begun to receive some early answers to the queries we posed regarding the trajectory of the disease and the U.S. economy, although much remains uncertain. The economic impact of…
23Mar
What Now? How about a plan……
Click here for PDF version The markets and the economy have taken an unprecedented hit. The size and speed of the downturn are like nothing we’ve witnessed before. There was little anyone could have done unless they were prepared beforehand. Even a portfolio like our flagship Astor Dynamic Allocation, which prior to this crisis had…
20Mar
Protected: Rob Stein: Current Economic Environment (e-mail info@astorim.com for password)
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
17Mar
March Update on the U.S. Economy
The Astor Economic Index declined throughout 2019 to a level consistent with approximately average economic growth, and as a result, Astor entered the month of March with substantially less ‘risk’ exposure compared to 12-months ago. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses throughout the United States and the world, our approach to investing mirrors that of the…
11Mar
Letter to Investors
03/11/2020 Dear Investors: We are certainly witnessing unprecedented times in the global financial markets. My career in the financial markets spans 30+ years with time spent on the Federal Reserve (Chairmanship of Paul Volcker), managing trading desks for some of the financial industries largest banks, to starting Astor in 1994. The…
10Mar
Discussion on Recent Volatility—Episode 8
Founder and CEO, Rob Stein and Senior Managing Director, Mac O’Brien discuss the current market environment. 2020-74 Astor Investment Management LLC is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser. All information contained herein is for informational purposes only. This is not a solicitation to offer investment advice or services in any…
3Mar
Fed Action: Rate Cut Immunity?
As was telegraphed to the market last Friday and over the weekend, the Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate by half a percentage point today. In a press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said, “We saw the risk to the outlook of the economy and chose to act.” That action was fully anticipated by…
3Mar
It’s Visibility—Not Uncertainty
The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to shake the financial markets, with major stock indices dropping into correction territory. (As of Thursday’s close, the S&P 500 was off 12% from its Feb. 19 peak.) While some observers want to chalk it up to “uncertainty” I beg to differ. This problem has more to do…
28Feb
Keeping the Coronavirus in Perspective
The major indices are clearly taking the coronavirus more seriously now, with the S&P 500 selling off by 3.4% on Monday, after seemingly ignoring the threat previously as the indices marched to new high after new high. The virus, known as COVID-19, has proven more difficult to contain than previous health scares such as SARS….
20Feb
Rob Stein joins hosts Jeffrey Sherman and Sam Lau on the Sherman Show Podcast discussing MACRO +MARKETS + NOWCASTING!
On the Sherman Show, Rob Stein, CEO of Astor Investment Management discusses his proprietary Astor Economic Index, designed to give a “now-cast” of the U.S. economy and used by the Astor team to set portfolio asset allocations. Rather than relying on economic forecasts, Rob and his team use contemporaneous reads of jobs, output and other…