Most of the world’s attention is on “fiscal cliff” negotiations in Washington D.C. And when we’re not hearing about the latest crack in the Republican coalition, financial journalists provide thoughts on the latest batch of U.S. economic data. The question that many wish to know… “Is the domestic employment picture improving?” If a lower unemployment rate is [...] Continue Reading...
In 2001, an economist coined an acronym that typified investing in the initial decade of this century. Indeed, “BRIC” became part and parcel of our vocabulary. BRIC regards four of the largest economic powerhouses in the emerging world — Brazil, Russia, India and China. And for investors, it became a must-know concept for success in the 2002-2007 [...] Continue Reading...
Nearly two months ago, Ben Bernanke announced an open-ended promise for the Federal Reserve to purchase $40 billion in mortgage-backed bonds every month. Prior to the 9/13 announcement, investors expected another round of electronic money printing, yet the size and scope of the plan exceeded everyone’s expectations. U.S. stocks surged to multi-year highs through the [...] Continue Reading...
Two weeks ago, I talked about reducing risk by leaning toward revenue beaters. Today, with a meager 37% of corporations surpassing expected sales targets, investors appear nervous about the possibility that companies will lose their footing on “Revenue Mountain.” Disappointing earnings reports, year-over-year revenue declines and uninspiring growth projections are not the only reasons for the [...] Continue Reading...
It may not take much to send the markets down these days. A profit miss by Google. A weak revenue showing by McDonalds. Or perhaps the most detrimental data point of the week: Existing home sales fell 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. With interest rates this low, properties have become increasingly affordable. Yet existing homeowners who [...] Continue Reading...
The second presidential debate served up smoke, mirrors, sound and fury. However, it did very little to advance either candidate’s prospects. In brief, the Kabuki theatrical production was entertaining, but it may not have swayed many voters. Shockingly, for all the tax rate rhetoric, neither candidate detailed a vision for avoiding a fiscal cliff calamity. If [...] Continue Reading...
Back on September 14, the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke shocked and “awe-struck” the investing world. The U.S. Fed did not merely embark on another bond-buying binge like they had in previous versions of quantitative easing (i.e., QE1, QE2). Whereas the earlier iterations had specific dates, “QE3″ is open-ended. Bernanke has made it clear that the [...] Continue Reading...
Hedge fund guru, Jim Chanos, has been telling investors to avoid China like the plague. And he’s been slamming the world’s second largest economy for many years. In May, Chanos described China as being in the midst of an epic property bubble. Fair enough… Chanos sees parallels between the U.S. meltdown and China’s “ghost towns.” Yet [...] Continue Reading...
Three months ago, Europe’s never-ending drama and China’s economic slowdown were collectively crushing Asia Pacific exporters. Single-country ETFs representing places like Australia, South Korea and Taiwan had relative strength factors below 50, meaning that half or more of the entire ETF universe were beating them. Then came the bailout dialogues. In late July, the president of the [...] Continue Reading...
Recently, Carl Delfield of Investment U, suggested that investors would reap the financial rewards of owning an equally-weighted portfolio of ”economically-free” countries. The author offered the most popular corresponding Country ETFs as a way to tap the potential of those sovereigns. Philosophically, I might agree with Delfield’s contention that such a portfolio would prove profitable. In fact, [...] Continue Reading...
