The Federal Reserve’s Fed Funds Rate is a target interest rate at which banks may lend money to each other overnight. For years, the U.S. central bank has targeted the rate at a paltry 0.00%-0.25%. And based on Bernanke’s comments one week ago, expect the bulls-eye to remain at 0.00%-0.25% for several more years. Economists generally acknowledge that lowering rates for [...] [...more]
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 [...] [...more]
Yesterday, June 2, 2011, 14-year old Sukanya Roy rocked the 1st place trophy at the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee. For some reason, I thought of my 14-year old daughter, and wondered whether she could spell, “perescii.” Then my mind shifted to something else entirely. Specifically, I wondered how many Americans could spell the word, “ethnocentrism.“ It is essentially spelled like it sounds. What’s more, it [...] [...more]
In August of 2009, I explained why iShares MSCI Malaysia (EWM) was a veritable bargain in the Emerging Market ETF arena. (Review ”A Different Slice of the EM Pie.”) By November of 2009, EWM became one of my top client holdings. Moreover, during the summertime slump of 2010, I reaffirmed my commitment to buying more/maintaining exposure to this [...] [...more]
Near the top of the current cyclical bull on 4/15/2010, at Dow 11,144, Jim Cramer predicted Dow 12000. He did it emphatically… as he is known for… and he did it without preconditions. Less than 8 weeks later, however, he floated a price target of Dow 8200. Anyone who has watched Jim Cramer is already familiar with the “flip-floppiness.” There were [...] [...more]
It’s easy to think about South Korea. Warren Buffett essentially called Korea’s POSCO the best steelmaker in the world. What’s more, South Koreans have turned a corner on everything from electronics (Samsung) to phones (LG Group) to automobiles (Hyundai). Few investors have failed to express interest in the “China miracle.” Not only is its economy growing at a [...] [...more]
