I'm sorry that I had to miss yesterday's Town Hall.
I had a great slide deck prepared (ASC+Plus subscribers can click below for access) and was excited to walk through it with everyone. We are seeing a breakout in our risk on / risk off ratio, continued improvement in sector-level trends, and evidence that sentiment in Emerging Markets looks pretty washed out. While there may be opportunities for following strength and rotating away from US equity exposure, Germany (which is at a 17+ year low versus the S&P 500) is not one of them. I'm sure we will have a chance to talk through many of these things in the days ahead.
As some of you know by now, rather than spending the morning and early-afternoon getting ready for our Town Hall conversation, I was saying a final good-bye to the gentlest of spirits and an ever-faithful friend. Our family dog, Banjo, had a health emergency from which the vet told us there was no reasonable chance of recovery.
Banjo joined our family over a decade ago, just after our youngest learned to walk and had the balance to withstand the affection of an exuberant puppy. Banjo's exuberance for affection and companionship was his calling card - and its absence yesterday morning was important evidence to us that something was not right. This came out of the blue for us. Just the day before we had enjoyed our walk and he seemed still to be at the top of his game.
He did right by us, and as hard as it was, we wanted to do right by him.
We told him well done, gave him some more of the affection that he so loved and said goodbye.
We will miss you Banjo - thank you for the time we were able to share.
P.S. Treasure your pets - they are a gift of grace.
