Blogs
Crude Oil: Not Shocking
June 20, 2025The latest hostilities in the Middle East between Israel and Iran have obvious and significant implications for crude oil futures and implied volatility. Although Israel’s initial strike was anticipated before the attack, it came as a surprise to the market ...
Read moreGreen Dividends: How Europe’s Clean Energy Mandates Are Reshaping Utility Dividend Payouts
June 12, 2025As Europe accelerates toward a carbon-neutral future, the continent’s utility giants are at the forefront of clean energy. Governments from Brussels to Berlin are mandating aggressive renewable energy targets, while investors continue to demand stable dividends in a turbulent global ...
Read moreThe Worst Crisis?
May 20, 2025The VIX was tailor-made for the financial panic that swept through the markets in early April. After languishing at relatively low levels for most of 2023 and 2024, the VIX exploded to a high of 60.13 on April 7th, a ...
Read moreFrom Shock to Signals: What Implied Dividends Reveal About Recession Risk
May 7, 2025Fears of retaliatory trade wars have sparked concern of an impending recession in the U.S. A renewed tariff war could raise the risk of higher input costs, disrupted supply chains, and weaker corporate margins—factors that can pressure earnings and dividend ...
Read moreA Golden Parachute?
April 23, 2025Gold is in the spotlight, and for good reason. Economic and political disorder, instability, and general uncertainty are dominating the markets this year, and they are tailor-made to support gold. Few assets have escaped the current market turmoil, but gold ...
Read moreIndia’s Dividend Outlook for Public Sector Undertakings
April 16, 2025Narendra Modi’s re-election in 2024 for a historic third term marks a continuation of India’s decade-long push toward economic reform and political stability. His government’s ongoing focus on privatizing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), ramping up infrastructure investment, maintaining macroeconomic discipline, and ...
Read moreReading the Yield Tea Leaves: Why Negative Option Skew Matters in Trump’s Tariff Era
April 3, 2025Garrett DeSimone, PhD The “Trump Tariff Wars 2.0” have given rise to increased market volatility and broad fears regarding stagflation. This has placed the Fed in a precarious position, as it must balance the risks between declining future growth and ...
Read more24th March UK dividend cuts / amends
March 24, 2025– Santander has cancelled its 2020 interim (paid in November 2020) choosing instead to make a single payment in May 2021. Declared dividends unaffected. – Mortgage Advice Bureau was going to declare 12.8p, but instead has declared 6.4p now with ...
Read moreVIX Futures Term Structure: A Warning Sign?
March 20, 2025Although the VIX is often cited as the market’s fear or anxiety gauge, the shape of its futures curve is often overlooked. The futures term structure, or the curve displaying the relationship of different contracts and maturities to one another, ...
Read more