(San Francisco)

Facebook announced this week that it would pay a $5 bn fine to settle a Free Trade Commission investigation into privacy violations. The exact same day, Facebook announced that the FTC had launched another probe, this one perhaps more worrying. The new probe is a formal antitrust investigation into Facebook. The company disclosed the investigation alongside its quarterly results yesterday.

FINSUM: So Facebook and big tech not only have the DOJ on them now, but now the FTC too. End of the golden age of the FAANGs?

(New York)

Annuities are an important part of both advisors’ businesses and their clients’ portfolios. However, the options in the market can be overwhelming, especially if you are an advisor new to the asset class. The annuities business has cleaned up its act in the last few years and is finally getting some respect because of its ability to alleviate retirees’ worst fears—running out of money in retirement. Well, Barron’s has put out a list of the top 100 annuities in the market, including how to pick them. The list is quite extensive, so here is a link. The choices are broken down into numerous categories and include offerings from Lincoln National Life, Transamerica, Prudential, CUNA Mutual Group, and beyond.

FINSUM: Not only do annuities help alleviate the fear of running out of money for retirees, but they are also popular with Millennials, who are financially conservative and have a similar concern about future income.

(San Francisco)

There have been a lot of worries about the tech sector this year. Besides valuation, the big fear has been the threat of regulation. Well, those anxieties are proving to be correct as the Department of Justice has just officially announced that it has opened a probe to figure out whether the tech sector is smothering competition. The broad antitrust investigation did not name companies in particular, but said it would focus on “search, social media and some retail services online”.

FINSUM: This is quite a worrying development, but it is hard to say how exactly it may play out. There does seem to be popular momentum behind further regulating big tech, which means lawmakers may be more emboldened.

(New York)

The muni market seems healthy. Other than the cases where budgets are exploding, the market as a whole has characteristically low yields and looks stable, especially because of excess investor demand from the recent tax changes. However, there are structural concerns about the market. Nuveen and Vanguard have come to dominate the market through their funds, sucking up to two-thirds of all the Dollars flowing into the market in the last decade. This is because investors have been increasingly buying muni funds, not individual securities. However, according to UBS, this is a big risk. “When everyone runs for the exit at the same time…no one wants to be the buyer of last resort … The concentration in large municipal asset managers will have ramifications during volatile times in that it will make the swings greater one way or another”.

FINSUM: Everyone has been warning about big runs on fixed income funds in a market downturn, but evidence of such has yet to materialize.

(Chicago)

REITs are in an interesting position right now given the downward rate environment. One on the one hand, that makes them look better, but given that rates are being driven by economic fears, it might not be good after all. However, one area of REITs looks pretty attractive—mall REITS. Yes, that might sound insane given the state of brick and mortar retail, but that is exactly the point. Expectations are so low, that the bar for prices to rise is quite low.

FINSUM: “A” malls, or REITs with top producing properties seem to the best bet, as they are better capitalized to upgrade their stores and have the most resilient locations.

(New York)

UBS just went on the record warning of a potential bursting bubble in equity markets. The bank’s CEO says that global coordinated central bank easing posed a threat to markets and risked inflating a bubble. “I’d be very, very careful about growing further the balance sheet of central banks”, said CEO Sergio Ermotti. He further explained that current market prices were out of sync with investor sentiment, posing a risk. However, he did say that clients were ready to buy the dips in the market, which was an encouraging sign.

FINSUM: The equity markets remind us a bit of US politics at the moment. There are a lot of people in the middle without a lot of conviction, but those on the sharper ends are driving the whole thing forward.

(New York)

Barron’s has published an interesting article which argues that there are ten asset bubbles waiting to pop in markets. According to an analyst cited in the publication, further coordinated global central bank easing is likely to exacerbate these bubbles and turn a “run-of-the-mill recession into a full blown financial crisis”. The ten asset bubbles cited are in the following asset classes: US government debt, US corporate debt, US leveraged loans, European debt, Bank of Japan Balance sheet and related equity holdings, unprofitable IPOs, crypto and cannabis, growth and momentum stocks, software and cloud stocks, ETFs (especially fixed income).

FINSUM: So the whole world is in a bubble except the asset class that most people pay the most attention to—US stocks. The thing about many of these “bubbles” is that the economy is still plenty healthy to cover them (such as companies’ ability to cover interest etc).

(Washington)

The Democrats are finally getting their time with Robert Mueller this week. Mueller is set to testify for a full five hours before the House Judiciary Committee and House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Democrats are seen as likely to push him to give further details on his investigation, especially into obstruction of justice claims, while Republicans are expected to probe him on bias within the FBI.

FINSUM: Everyone seems to agree—it is hard to imagine anything happening at these hearings that would change anyone’s mind.

(New York)

Gold has been stuck in a bear market for a long time. However, it is getting close to completely breaking out of its funk, as the yellow metal is at a 6-year high. Gold is being driven by worries over the economy, falling yields, and a potentially weaker Dollar, as well as geopolitical fears. UBS summed up gold’s position this way, saying “[Due to the] declining cost of holding gold as rates remain low or continue to fall, gold’s appeal as a diversifier and alternative asset amid the current macro environment is increasing”.

FINSUM: Our only worry about gold is if rate cuts cause a risk-on move by investors that will leave gold in the dust.

(Washington)

Astute observers will have noticed that President Trump last week nominated Eugene Scalia to head the DOL following Acosta’s resignation. Even sharper readers will know that likely means the DOL’s newest version of the Fiduciary Rule is likely dead. Scalia was instrumental in the first version of the rule’s defeat last year. He was the lead counsel for SIFMA and the body of trade groups that defeated the rule. With him becoming head of the DOL, it seems highly unlikely the Labor Department would advance the newest version of the regulation.

FINSUM: We think Eugene Scalia is the DOL head that most of the industry has been waiting for. He has a reputation as a fierce anti-regulation warrior, so is hard to imagine him advancing the newest version of the Fiduciary Rule to any degree.