Share repurchase activity among U.S. corporations is garnering a lot of negative attention as aggregate dollars spent on share buybacks are nearing the all-time highs last seen leading up to the financial crisis. We take a closer look at the recent activity to see if we are in for a repeat.

The recent sudden strength in the dollar is mostly attributable to the divergent central bank policies. This supports a bullish dollar outlook over the medium term.

In September, the Russell 2000 index lost 6% and is down 4.4% YTD. Large Caps widened their YTD performance lead (S&P 500 +8.3%). Small Cap Premium slides to 15%.

U.S. demographic and economic trends coupled with meaningful expansion of the insured population should continue to support Health Care Facilities.

The weaker pattern of MTI readings since August 1st supports the reduced net equity exposure in our tactical portfolios (targeting 55% net equities since early August).

Economic expansion and industry consolidation have created tighter capacity and improved performance for North American Airlines. Other parts of the globe are experiencing planned capacity expansion, a trend that will affect the entire industry.

 We additionally compare factor results YTD to that of 2013 YTD; shift to Large Caps should have staying power.

While the lagging action of Small Caps should be monitored, persistent strength in most stock market breadth measures makes it difficult to argue the stock market has entered a true “distribution” phase.

Surging bond prices in Europe have opened a yield gap with the U.S. This premium favors more dollar strength in the coming months. In equity markets, the short term volatility in the dollar is a mildly bearish signal.

We define four states of the stock-bond relationship based on the directions of stock price and bond yield movements; stocks fear tightening more than true risks, while bonds are more responsive to Risk-On and Risk-Off.

Up/Down Earnings ratio cools off in August.

Net equity exposure in the Core and Global Portfolios trimmed to 55%. Chances are good that any near-term market set-back will be measured in weeks (not months), and contained within the parameters of either a shallow (under 7%) or intermediate (7-12%) correction.

We examine the highly ranked Automotive Retail group and explain why, despite its recent strength, it may still have room to run.

The United States’ large P/E premium relative to the rest of the world suggests that foreign equities should produce total returns of about two percentage points (annualized) above the U.S. over a seven to ten-year horizon.

Remember that peaks in market breadth tend to lead peaks in the S&P 500 by at least a few months.

Among EM countries, the Indian equity market has been one of the most difficult corners for international investors to gain access. We look at the market characteristics and investment channel options to consider how to best gain exposure to Indian companies.

Cheapest three sectors on a relative basis: Info Tech, Health Care, Energy

With the Fed policy approaching actual tightening, the market is trying to price in a rate hike in the next year or so. This is a rather typical market response.

We studied the five previous initial rate hikes and present the average pattern over the one year period prior to these events.

Our beginning-of-the-year message—“lower your expectations and be patient” has largely been true so far this year as most equity markets tracked the historical pattern pretty closely.