Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Howard Marks Memo: The Seven Worst Words in the World

Link to Memo: The Seven Worst Words in the World
This month marks the tenth anniversary of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing on September 15, 2008, and with it the arrival of the terminal melt-down phase of the Global Financial Crisis. Enough time has passed for the trauma of the Global Financial Crisis to have worn off; memories of those terrible times to have grown dim; and the reasons for stringent credit standards to have receded into the past. Investors have had plenty of time to get used to monetary stimulus and reliance on the Fed to inject liquidity to support economic activity. 
In today's market environment, the possible effects of economic overstimulation, increasing inflation, contractionary monetary policy, rising interest rates and thus rising corporate debt service burdens do create uncertainty. So, is there again "too much money chasing too few deals"?