This weekend, I battled influenza. Night sweats, fever, shakes, shivers — you name it, I’ve been experiencing it. Ironically enough, Mr. Market seems to be every bit as shaky as my body. Indeed, the subprime…
Chairman Bernanke may be right that the U.S. economy is on a slow growth path. But Wall Street’s mob has spoken clear and loud…. “Recession!” You have to wonder how much longer the Fed intends…
In the past year, there have been countless articles on the demise of the U.S. dollar. And few writers seem to think that our currency can ever recover. (That’s why the contrarian in me would…
On 12/18/07, I handicapped the probability of recession at 70% likely based on 5 of the best forward-looking indicators. With today’s shockingly low Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) registering a dismal 47.7, we need to revise…
I was recently asked by a journalist at Investors Business Daily to identify some of the ETF successes from 2007. My first thought was to list several of the hot emerging market ETFs, like Brazil…
Matt Hougan of Index Universe recently republished his “ultimate” low expense portfolio of ETFs. The reason? His buy-n-hold cluster is actually cheaper than it had been before (0.15%). Here’s Matt’s list of investments: Asset Class…
What index has a better 1-year track record than oil, gold, your favorite emerging market… even China? Answer: The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) garnered 130% over the last year. Aggressive…
There are no words to describe it… only numbers will do. Dow 14000 is now Dow 12800. S&P 1565 is now S&P 1416. And the “can’t-touch-this” Nasdaq has slipped from 2800 to 2560. All it…
Barclays bank reported mortgage-backed security losses. General Electric Asset Management revealed that a large bond fund had also suffered losses in mortgage-backed securities. And less I forget, the CEO of Wells Fargo described the housing…
I recently received an e-message from a global investor. He’s experienced terrific gains in broad-based Asian ETFs such as the Vanguard Asia Pacific Fund (VEA) and individual country ETFs like the iShares MSCI South Korea…