Media outlets continue pressing the notion that new cash is entering the stock market from the sidelines. And for the most part, this may be an accurate depiction. Anecdotally, many of my risk-averse money management clients have asked me to move them up from “ultra-conservative” to “moderately conservative.” Similarly, a number of traditional “moderates” are asking [...] Continue Reading...
Japanese stocks have been perennial underachievers. So when I suggested on December 20 that investors might benefit from WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity (DXJ), I was asking certain readers to challenge conventional wisdom. (See “A Foreign Stock ETF For A Rapidly Declining Currency.”) My thought process on the matter was relatively straight-forward. The incoming prime minister of [...] Continue Reading...
The S&P 500 is above 1500. CBOE S&P 500 Volatility (VIX) is sitting near 15-year lows. And 88% of iShares S&P 100 (OEF) component stocks are above respective 200-day moving averages. Normally, you might hear more discussion about complacency and/or an imminent sell-off. Instead, you’re hearing more about the “Great Rotation” out of bonds and into [...] Continue Reading...
ETF enthusiasts can make profitable investing decisions based upon government/central bank currency manipulation. For example, a little more than a month ago, I wrote “A Foreign Stock ETF for a Rapidly Declining Currency.” In the article, I discussed Shinzo Abe’s determination to devalue the yen substantially through aggressive monetary intervention so that Japan’s exports would be [...] Continue Reading...
Why do some ETFs succeed and why do others fail? The question certainly seems harmless enough. What’s more, this was the topic of my presentation at the Global Indexing & ETFs Conference in Phoenix yesterday afternoon. As I prepared to speak, I found myself questioning the nature of success. Should I link success to risk-adjusted returns? [...] Continue Reading...
In the steamy September days (9/13-9-14) of central bank euphoria, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed would immediately begin purchasing $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. What’s more, the chairman did not include an end date for the quantitative easing program known as “QE3.” Bernanke’s summertime bazooka sent S&P 500 stocks skyward, [...] Continue Reading...
Benjamin Franklin said, “It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one-tenth part of their income.” Yet recent polls show that the majority of U.S. citizens do not believe candidate Romney’s 2011 effective rate of 14.4% was high enough. Apparently, not everyone seems to feel that one-tenth, or 10%, is harsh [...] Continue Reading...
Chairman Bernanke hinted than the U.S. Federal Reserve is still leaning towards additional easing, either through bond purchases or an extension of low rates into 2015. (Tell us something that we didn’t already know.) Yet the Fed does not appear poised to act in September or October. Indeed, with the Fed unlikely to provide clarity until after the presidential election, Stock ETFs may see volatile [...] Continue Reading...
The early 80s may accurately capture my transition to adulthood. Yet the 70s have a grip on a treasure trove of childhood memories — from iZod shirts to Schoolhouse Rock to the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. The 70s also bring back a less nostalgic activity… waiting on gasoline lines that stretched about a 1/2 mile down Route 22. Well, to be fair, [...] Continue Reading...
The Senate recently voted in favor of a health reform bill. Is this good or bad for medical insurers? November new home sales were no better than they were in April. Does that spell doom for homebuilders or serve up new opportunity? Congress raised the deficit debt ceiling to $12.4 trillion. Can the U.S. dollar really handle [...] Continue Reading...
