One of my asset management clients recently asked me about the increasingly pessimistic bond bashing in the media. He wrote, “I understand that investors should diversify. But if bonds look like a terrible investment to the experts, why should people put their money in them?” Ahhhhh, the experts. Presumably, this fellowship includes yours truly… one of the original ETF [...] Continue Reading...
The proverbial “Wall of Worry” has helped stocks recover of July lows. Perhaps ironically, summertime skepticism has given way to wintertime optimism in the form of a December market “melt up.” But have stocks gotten ahead of themselves? Are investors becomnig complacent? If you’re going to move against this bullish herd, you could look to short individual companies or sectors [...] Continue Reading...
In truth, I originally anticipated that we’d see some “sell-the-news” profit-taking in late January… somewhere in the midst of the corporate earnings barrage. I did not think that I’d be cautioning on the bull market’s near-term viability here in late December. Why am I concerned about stock assets in the immediate-term? Did the recent rate hike by China give me pause to reflect, [...] Continue Reading...
Not every “sure thing” materializes. For example, most investors expected 10-year yields to dramatically rise in 2010. Instead, they’ve finished the year near the same place they started. What about the U.S. dollar? Conventional wisdom predicted significant depreciation… and it too finshed 2010 near wher it began. If you shift overseas, there’s consistent condemnation in the [...] Continue Reading...
The biggest news over the weekend had been China’s surprise Christmas-day decision to hike its interest rates. China is looking to slow down price inflation. And, not surprisingly, some of the worst performing Country ETFs on 12/27/2010 were those with heavy exposure to the materials and energy segments. For example, Columbia, Chile, Brazil and Mexico were among the [...] Continue Reading...
If you traveled to Grandmother’s house by car over the holidays, you may have gotten the sense that gas prices are creeping higher again. That might not come as a surprise to market watchers… oil is settling near a year-end high at $90 per barrel. Is the move higher a seasonal thing? Or are the economic fundamentals for [...] Continue Reading...
Total Return ETFs, Bond Yields And ETFs, Bill Gross And ETFs, Inflation ETFs, Economy and ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 12-26-10 Continue Reading...
Window dressing money managers often go shopping before Christmas time. Specifically, advisers have a limited number of trading days left to acquire investment positions that will look good on quarterly and/or annual portfolio summaries. Individual superstar companies whose share prices rocketed earlier in the year experience the most attention. For instance, is anyone surprised to see Apple (AAPL) hitting record [...] Continue Reading...
If you’re like many Americans, you are itching to get home for the holiday weekend. Maybe you want to see members of the extended family. Perhaps you look forward to giving gifts. Or maybe you long for a football game on the big screen. At the same time, you may wish to catch up on your financial reading. And for [...] Continue Reading...
Bonds were dramatically overbought throughout the summertime. Blame it on “Fed QE2-speak” or deflationary pressure or a herd-like fear of stocks. Nevertheless the 10-year yield of 2.3% bordered on insanity. By the way, kudos to those who chose Intermediate Bond ETFs at the start of May, and then “went away” until the start of November. Investors who executed a seasonal trade of iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond [...] Continue Reading...
