In the movie “Moneyball,” Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Bean uses an innovative strategy called “sabermetrics” to catapult his underachieving baseball team to success. Bean is introduced to sabermetrics by Peter Brand (played in the film by Jonah Hill), an assistant who has mastered a series of calculations that allow…

There was no shortage of interesting ideas discussed at last week’s Consensus conference, CoinDesk’s flagship crypto gathering. But the most disappointing speech – though it wasn’t at all surprising – was the one delivered by former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo. For several years now, after starting…

Market participants have their eyes on the Federal Open Markets Committee this week to see if its members vote to raise the federal funds rates again. The FOMC has raised rates nine times since March 17, 2022. Because inflation is nowhere near the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate and due…

The banking turmoil has reached the point where the tide has gone out, and we are seeing which institutions have been swimming naked. A third California-headquartered bank, in less than two months, is looking like it is on the verge of collapse. As of May 3, PacWest Bancorp’s PACW stock…

The FDIC has issued final regulations that, as of April 1, 2024, will change how bank accounts held in the name of a trust will be insured. This rule change treats both revocable and irrevocable trust the same for determining the limits on insurance. Often clients do not think about…

One of my neighbors is an octogenarian who loves gardening and enjoys hosting her family and friends outside. The other day she mentioned that she was stumped about the menu for an upcoming gathering. So she asked ChatGPT to make one for her. After I picked my jaw off the…

Banks are tightening credit standards for business loans, according to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly survey of senior lending officers. That true for large and medium-sized banks (shown in the chart above) as well as for small banks. The interest rates on business loans are rising relative to the banks’ cost…

Interest rate hikes by key central banks around the world and tightening credit conditions will put pressure on U.S. regional banks’ capital, credit quality, and profitability. Globally systemically important banks (G-SIBs) are benefiting from the diversity of business lines they have, as well as from the various sources of funding…

Digital transformation can be intimidating. In many ways, upgrading a company’s technology platform is like trying to get your own body into better shape. Even when we know we need to work out, many of us get put off by the gym bros, weight benches and complicated exercise machines at…

Could it be the Federal Reserve has just won the war on inflation? It’s hard to be certain, but the data sure look promising. The question is does the Fed see what others see? Probably not. “PPI is a critical leading indicator of inflation and is a clear signal that…