The latest weekly data from the Investment Company Institute? Money market fund inflows exceeded $24 billion. That represents the largest weekly increase since December. The lion’s share of the jump came from institutional shifts. No surprise there… money managers have been raising their cash levels in anticipation of a highly probable pullback. Nevertheless, U.S. stocks remain resilient. [...] Continue Reading...
As an economy digs out from recessionary ashes, investors tend to favor the shares of small to mid-sized companies. However, as a recovery turns to expansion, and as an economy begins to slow, the shares of larger corporations typically garner more interest. Yet, what if investors begin to doubt if a slowing economy will continue to grow at all? In uncertain times, the shares of the behemoths [...] Continue Reading...
Since the beginning of earnings season, I’ve been discussing the rotation into defensive stock sectors. Now, nearly everyone seems to be writing something about it. That said, you’ll find three links to my “defensive sector” commentary below. In the articles, you’ll find observations pertaining to changes in everything from relative strength to volume breadth, valuations to new 52-week highs. May 3, 2011: “Sector [...] Continue Reading...
The African continent accounts for nearly 1 billion people (15% of the world’s population). The Wall Street Journal notes that 313 million of these folks constitute a formidable middle class. WSJ also reports that corporations from Walmart to Google to Microsoft have been implementing strategies to access opportunities across Africa. However, countries like Libya and Somalia present frightening political uncertainty for the region. [...] Continue Reading...
I recently came across a curious column that endeavored to explain strength in European ETFs. The writer used highbrow concepts like “country rotation” and “deep value.” He even credited European austerity measures for the remarkable YTD percentage gains. Here is the data and the title that that author employed: The Best Developed Markets Year-To-Date Through 5/4/2011 Italy (EWI) 20.5% Spain (EWP) 20.4% Germany [...] Continue Reading...
ETF investors added more than $21 billion in net new assets during April. This represented the 8th consecutive month of positive inflows for the industry. Analysts report that the $1.12 trillion is primarily dedicated to 3 companies. Blackrock’s iShares brand has roughly 220 ETFs with $500 billion in assets; State Street and Vanguard have $257 billion and $172 billion respectively. In the past, broader regional indices had little [...] Continue Reading...
Stocks haven’t quite “gone away” in May. In fact, the S&P 500 at 1346 remains within spitting distance of its multi-year peak of 1370. In spite of remarkable stock resilience, the 10-year treasury bond yield has dropped to a jaw-droppingly low 3.14%. That has helped Bond ETFs hit 52-week highs for the fourth consecutive week. (Remember, it wasn’t that [...] Continue Reading...
The “Oracle of Omaha” has recently ventured beyond U.S. borders. Bloomberg reports Mr. Buffett has been looking for companies from BRIC nations to add to the Berkshire portfolio. For example, Brazil’s Marcopolo (largest domestic bus manufacturer) and China’s Lonking (a Chinese construction company) have caught the Cornhusker’s eye. ETF investors with an interest in tapping into local population growth and [...] Continue Reading...
Safer ETFs, Sub-Sector Surprise ETFs, Staples ETFs, Health Care ETFs, China ETFs, Small Cap Foreign ETFs Click here to listen to the show: 5-8-2011 Continue Reading...
Holy Macaroni! For those who limited themselves to lamenting the 1% Cinco De Mayo losses on the Dow, they missed a stunning beat-down in the commodities universe. It’s not that it was entirely unexpected. Some may have read my commentary one week ago to the day when I offered the following: “That said, traders should begin to consider a near-term possibility [...] Continue Reading...
