If you look hard enough, you can find a whole lot of things that are wrong with the “B” in BRIC. The country’s GDP growth is virtually non-existent. Government regulatory intervention in both the energy sector as well as the financials segment has been increasing. And Brazil’s currency lost approximately 7% against the dollar on [...] Continue Reading...
Ten short weeks ago, financial journalists celebrated a growth stock renaissance in 2012, applauding the super-sized gains for growth funds and downplaying the performance of value-oriented counterparts. Year-to-date (through 10/1), large-company growth mutual funds had amassed 17.1% whereas large-cap value mutual funds had picked up 14.3%. John Wagoner of USA Today explained that the lag had to [...] Continue Reading...
Why are investors still buying treasuries and short-term investment grade bonds? Many have grown accustomed to the exceptional total returns. As I look out across the 2013 landscape, however, I see less opportunity for investors to score big with a capital appreciation component on taxable U.S. debt or quality (e.g., AAA, AA, etc.) corporate debt. Depending on [...] 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...
It may be too early to declare that the “do whatever it takes” rally is dead in the Mediterranean Sea. After all, there is still a fair amount of interest in buying broad market stock ETFs on weakness. For example, on Wednesday (10/10/12), block trading institutional investors snatched up shares of the iShares S&P 100 (OEF) [...] Continue Reading...
Apple (AAPL) has already pulled back more than 10% from its intra-day trading record. It finished out Columbus Day roughly -9.1% below its all-time closing peak of $702.10 per share. The culture-changer stock’s importance to the direction of the market cannot be overstated. For example, during the last 12 months, shares of the “i-everything” maker have moved [...] Continue Reading...
Last week, U.S. equities rocketed more than 2 percentage points on an enthusiastic embrace of potential progress in alleviating Europe’s debt woes. Nevertheless, money managers and “mom-n-poppers” yanked $4.6 billion dollars from U.S. Stock ETFs. Fund flows may provide insight into what institutional investors are thinking. In this instance, some may be thinking about locking in a portion of their gains for 2012. On [...] Continue Reading...
At the start of May, 88% of stocks in the S&P 100 Index were above a long-term, 200-day trendline. Near the June lows, that number had fallen to roughly 50%. In August, the exchange-traded vehicle for the S&P 100 Index (OEF) hit new 52-week highs. Yet it did so with less participation from the index constituents at 79%. What’s more, [...] Continue Reading...
The CBOE S&P 500 VIX Volatility (VIX) is screaming that stock market participants have become too complacent. Specifically, the current price (14.29) is well below 15 — the level at which market-watchers insist that investors are failing to appreciate equity risk. Do stocks have to sell off because of limited daily trading ranges and ultra-low VIX volatility? Only if you have a vested [...] Continue Reading...
It doesn’t take much for stock markets to rev up their “risk-on” engines. For instance, European leaders have offered little more than verbal promises in their desire to push equity prices higher. Meanwhile, market-watchers celebrated the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Employment Report (163,000 net jobs gain), even though a variety of unemployment/underemployment measures degenerated in July. In truth, European leaders have [...] Continue Reading...
