Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 8, 2025

In the first five posts, I have looked at the macro numbers that drive global markets, from interest rates to risk premiums, but it is not my preferred habitat. A key tool in both endeavors is a hurdle rate a rate of return that you determine as your required return for business and investment decisions.

Hurdle Rate 72

Hurdle Rate Valuation Corporate Finance Currencies 72

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 10, 2025

In corporate finance and investing, which are areas that I work in, I find myself doing double takes as I listen to politicians, market experts and economists making statements about company and market behavior that are fairy tales, and data is often my weapon for discerning the truth. Financing Flows 5. Beta & Risk 1.

Corporate Finance 119

Corporate Finance Valuation Finance Numbers 119

Musings on Markets

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

I am in the third week of the corporate finance class that I teach at NYU Stern, and my students have been lulled into a false sense of complacency about what's coming, since I have not used a single metric or number in my class yet.

Hurdle Rate 72

Hurdle Rate Accounting Investments Economics 72

Musings on Markets

JANUARY 31, 2024

In my last three posts, I looked at the macro (equity risk premiums, default spreads, risk free rates) and micro (company risk measures) that feed into the expected returns we demand on investments, and argued that these expected returns become hurdle rates for businesses, in the form of costs of equity and capital.

Hurdle Rate 80

Hurdle Rate Profit and Loss Accounting Investments 80

Musings on Markets

AUGUST 15, 2023

After the rating downgrade, my mailbox was inundated with questions of what this action meant for investing, in general, and for corporate finance and valuation practice, in particular, and this post is my attempt to answer them all with one post. Why does the risk-free rate matter? What is a risk free investment?

Investments 98

Investments Currencies Treasury Hurdle Rate 98

Musings on Markets

MARCH 5, 2025

The Dysfunctional Version In practice, though, there is no other aspect of corporate finance that is more dysfunctional than the cash return or dividend decision, partly because the latter (dividends) has acquired characteristics that get in the way of adopting a rational policy. Data Update 5 for 2025: It's a small world, after all!

Corporate Finance 52

Corporate Finance Investments Finance Hurdle Rate 52

PYMNTS

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

And while partnerships, collaboration and internal product development have helped banks to improve their reputations for innovation among their corporate clients, a new report from Boston Consulting Group says it’s not enough. The analysis was drawn from a survey of 300 business banking units ranging in size. ”

Banking 43

Banking Hurdle Rate Benchmarking Economics 43