The SPDR S&P China Fund (GXC) fell -37% from an April high to an October low. That was nearly twice the top-to-bottom devastation for the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY). What’s more, the dramatic sell-off across all China ETFs met the commonplace definition of a bear market — a 20% drop from the peak. Often, commentators [...] Continue Reading...
The troubles in Italy, Portugal and Greece are shockingly serious. How serious? Many insist that these 3 little piggies will eventually succumb to disorderly bankrupties, causing Armageddon for world stock markets and the global financial system. For the doomsday crowd to be right, however, everything has to go wrong. Ev-er-y-thing! For instance, coordinated Eurozone plans for aid to Greece would have [...] Continue Reading...
The willingness of Greek leadership to throw salt into the wounds of the global financial system is the only thing on Mr. Market’s mind. It follows that the ongoing European debt crisis continues to steal all of the headline space. Yet there are a number of economic data points that investors should not gloss over. For [...] Continue Reading...
In the dark days of late September/early October, China hinted that it was nearing the end of its monetary and fiscal tightening campaign. At the same time, leaders in the European Union demonstrated several “come together” moments that removed the probability of an imminent collapse. And virtually every fundamental measure of “value” favored stocks over alternative assets. In fact, I extolled the virtues of a [...] Continue Reading...
Factual headlines are often misleading. For example, a popular financial portal offered, ”October consumer confidence weakest since March 2009.” Most people might interpret this to mean that consumers aren’t spending and/or won’t be spending their money, resulting in less revenue for economically sensitive corporations. However, actual consumer spending has been on the rise… 1.1% in September alone. Equally important, Retail ETFs [...] Continue Reading...
Here’s a disclaimer from the get-go. If the European Union fails to persuade the world that they’ve got a workable, TARP-like plan on Wednesday, feel free to disregard these 3 reasons to add more Stock ETFs to your current allocation. 1. 2008 Or 1998? Endless comparisons have been made between 2011’s sovereign debt toxicity and 2008’s subprime loan [...] Continue Reading...
The bear has been ruthless to investors in Chinese companies. For example, from an early November 2010 multi-year peak to an October 2011 valley, the iShares FTSE China 25 Fund (FXI) plummeted -36.6%. Since those October 3 lows, however, several facets of the Chinese “story” have become more favorable. First, analysts worldwide began upgrading China stocks [...] Continue Reading...
The U.S economy has been faltering. Politicians have been blaming one another. And confidence is about as bad as it gets. However, what you read or hear in the media about recessions and economic progress will not explain the success or failure of stock assets. For example, Australia boasts a mere 5.3% unemployment, the highest interest rates among [...] Continue Reading...
Last month, the mere rumor that China was looking at purchasing Italian bonds sent stocks surging higher. However, it is far more likely that China will take a ”wait-n-see” approach. Consider the contentious nature of international trade and currency disputes between China and the developed world. In response to a widespread belief that China keeps its currency artificially low, the U.S. Senate has been advancing [...] Continue Reading...
Rampant inflation in India, as well as troublesome price increases in China, have caused respective monetary authorities to limit borrowing. Investors rarely celebrate higher interest rates or bank reserve restrictions. Equally disturbing, ultra-slow growth in the developed world hinders emerging economy exporting. Moreover, the sovereign debt uncertainty in Europe, as well as in the United States, presents additional challenges for manufacturers across [...] Continue Reading...
