Seeking Alpha by Adding Beta

The " Irrational Exuberance " which markets were showing got taken out little bit during usual " June Swoon" . Now what? It all depends on if Economy is going back to "Quarantine" mode or continuing its path to "Rebound". Let's look at some factors which would decide this. Trajectory of COVID-19: Various states (Texas, Florida, California, Arizona etc) have shown increase in infections and positive test ratios. Part of it is due to increased testing,  relaxed norms as well as opening of bars, restaurants and public places. Many nations especially in Asia (India) and Latin America (Brazil) have shown significant pickup in infections. Even China had shown outbreaks in some clusters. Hospitalizations and Death Rates: While infections have increased, rate of hospitalizations is lower than infections and mortality rates have also improved due to increased understanding on how to treat COVID patients. Hospitals and health care system is much

Last week would be marked as one of the historic week in America. The brutal murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police in plain-sight brought centuries of racism in US to the fore-front. The peaceful protests were just and warranted to bring attention to this ongoing pandemic in US society (and many other countries). Some of the protests turned into riots due to opportunistic looting by some criminal elements. It's time for US to root out the silent racism and reform the police departments across the nation! And looking at Amy Cooper's infamous racist video, we all must internalize and root out whatever un-conscious or silent racism which we may have! Exactly in same week, markets were ignoring all of these events and almost partying like it's late 1990s-2000. That reminds me of the famous speech by former US Fed chairman Alan Greenspan's about " Irrational exuberance " in Dec 1996. As Yale Prof Shiller wrote in his 2000 book (source: Wikipedia) Irra