The bears have their hero in Nouriel Roubini. Yet the bulls have a star in Laszlo Birinyi, a long-time money manager who believes the cyclical bull market has just begun. Birinyi’s belief is that the current rally may last through the presidential election of 2012. His evidence? He trusts price-to-sales more than price-to-earnings, and the P/S [...] Continue Reading...
There may be 33 million people in Canada. All of them, and perhaps most of the world’s citizens, may have cheered its gold medal victory over the Americans in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Yet investors have been cheering Canada on for years with iShares MSCI Canada (EWC) outperforming the S&P 500 SPDR Trust (SPY) in the previous decade. In [...] Continue Reading...
In the White House, you have an exceptionally strong advocate for cleaner energy. President Obama frequently touts the virtues of the nuclear option. Overseas, China has become surprisingly active in clean energy development. Estimates suggest that the country is spending $110 billion annually on clean energy development, with a stated goal to make renewable energy account for 15% [...] Continue Reading...
The volatility in the stock market rattles your nerves. And who can blame you… when the possibility of 50% price declines may be un-”bear”-able. On the flip side, the bond market may have less going for it today than it has in many decades. For one thing, the current yield of a 10-year treasury is less [...] Continue Reading...
In January, ETF fund flows depicted a number of seemingly incongruous events. Investors liked foreign stocks, but hated U.S. stocks. They distanced themselves from the risks of the financial sector, while they embraced the risks of energy and natural resources industries. Meanwhile, foreign currencies became outcasts, yet most forms of U.S. bonds received billions of new assets. Perhaps [...] Continue Reading...
The credit crisis may not be over for Greece. It may not be over for Dubai. In fact, there’s always the possibility that another shoe will drop. Yet, ever since the big banks cemented their collective viability with a “too-big-to-fail” designation, preferred financial stock assets have been remarkably consistent. For example, over the last 7 months, PowerShares Financial Preferred [...] Continue Reading...
During the 2010 Superbowl commercials, keep an eye out for “Green Car of the Year” winner, the Audi A3 TDI. The advertisement features rock band “Cheap Trick” as it re-records its 70’s hit, “Dream Police,” as the “Green Police.” In spite of corporations putting their greenest feet forward, investors should be nervous. If crude oil reamins [...] Continue Reading...
The population of the world is growing at a rapid pace. Billions of people require more of just about every imaginable natural resource — oil, gas, grains, livestock, metals, materials and water. Most people believe it will be difficult, if not impossible, for suppliers to meet the needs of businesses or consumers. And yet, a bump [...] Continue Reading...
Last year, I examined effective tax rates in different countries as they might relate to ETF returns. This year, I wanted to take a look at how the actual tax bite on different industries might influence ETF performance. While U.S. companies often argue that the 35% corporate tax bracket is too high, Bloomberg BusinessWeek cites data from the [...] Continue Reading...
I may have been one of few voices in the media that didn’t explain last week’s market slump as a function of Bernanke’s confirmation uncertainty. In fact, in my ETF Risk Alert service, I talked about how 80% of companies may be beating their earnings expectations, but that those profits have not grown fast enough to justify [...] Continue Reading...
