Second-quarter bank earnings are around the corner, and expectations are perhaps correctly elevated across the board. Many of the larger firms in the sector may have just seen record-breaking quarters thanks to robust capital markets activities driven by equity issuances. And many of the smaller firms may be benefitting from robust lending and banking activity …

Every so often, the data throws a bit of a curveball at you, and that’s essentially what the June payroll report did. But that’s also a cue to take a step back and focus on the big picture. Right now, the big picture is that the labor market is in fine shape. That’s good for …

As Barry wrote about yesterday, bonds have had a volatile year so far, and the payoff for the volatility we have seen is a barely positive return for the year for the aggregate bond market, including interest. Rates have moved higher across the yield curve, credit spreads have widened slightly, and bonds fell alongside equities …