Search Results
Results 2,251–2,300
of 3,303 found.
Do Environmentally and Socially Responsible Companies have Stronger Market Performance?
With spring in full swing and Earth Day last month, communities are holding activities to help people become more environmentally conscious as the snow melts away. These activities not only have a positive impact on the environment but also socially—who doesn’t enjoy a clean, green environment?
Against the Wind: The Sentiment-Driven Rally Could Take a Breather
by Liz Ann Sonders of Charles Schwab,
The late-great Marty Zweig—one of my bosses from 1986 to 2009—was a pioneer in investor sentiment indicators. He was often asked to share his single favorite indicator, and he typically cited “Time and Newsweek cover stories.” Note this was a pre-Internet, pre-social media era, and what he was referring to was the tendency for those two mainstream publications to put bulls or bears on their respective covers in the same week. With nearly perfect timing, when both mags put bears on their covers, the bear market typically in place was likely ending or over. Conversely, when both mags put bulls on their covers, the bull market typically in place was likely ending or over.
On My Radar: Stan Says Sell
At the beginning of each month, I like to look at equity market valuations. The stock market moved higher in April, yet for the fourth quarter in a row, corporate earnings were down. The good news about market valuations is that they can tell us a great deal about the annualized returns we are likely to get over the coming 10 years. The bad news is they tell us little about returns over the coming two years.
John H. Cochrane for President
by Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James,
The erudite professor goes on to note that while the differences between 3.5% growth and 2% may seem small, the resultant consequences are large. For example, by 2008 Americans were three times better off than they were in 1952. He writes, “Real GDP per person rose from $16,000 [per year] to $49,000.” However, if growth in the 1950 to 2000 timeframe was only 2%, instead of 3.5%, the per capita income metrics for that same timeframe would have been just $23,000, not $49,000.
Any Gas Left in the High-Yield Municipal Tank?
A favorable credit environment and technical factors have contributed to strong high-yield municipal performance.
We see limited room for further appreciation with yields near historical lows, tighter credit spreads and a municipal curve as flat as it was pre-financial crisis.
Weaker relative value and the late stages of economic expansion argue for conservative high-yield muni positioning.
Mid-cap Dividend Growth Stocks by Sector - Part 2C: REITs and Real Estate Management
by Chuck Carnevale of F.A.S.T. Graphs,
This is the final installment in my series of articles on fairly valued mid-cap selections. My inspiration to produce these articles was at the request and suggestion from regular readers who were frustrated at the lack of coverage and/or articles on mid-caps. To accommodate those requests, I screened through the S&P 400 mid-cap index with the assumption that it represented a credible universe of high-quality mid-caps. The fact that I was only reviewing the S&P 400 index was missed based on many comments received on my previous articles in this series. In other words, I only included fairly valued research candidates that are members of the S&P 400 index in this series.
3 Ways You Can Reduce Retirement Readiness Risk
by Chuck Self of iSectors,
Since we just finished tax time (or filed an extension to delay facing the reckoning until October), it is a good time to review your tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Whether you have five or 35 years until think you will retire, you will want to make progress to full retirement readiness.
On My Radar: He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother
He sure feels like he’s heavy. From The Wall Street Journal this morning, “U.S. Growth Starts Year in Familiar Rut.” “A sharp pullback in business investment and weak global demand dragged down an already-lackluster U.S. economy in the opening months of 2016, the latest setback in a bumpy expansion entering its seventh year.” That marked the economy’s worst performance in two years.
Weekly Market Summary
by Urban Carmel of The Fat Pitch,
Equities fell this week, led by an 11% drop in the US's largest stock, Apple. For the first time since the February low, the near-term trend in SPY is weak: the current set up normally leads SPY, through price and time, to its 50-dma and lower Bollinger Band, both currently about 3% lower. Overall, breadth, sentiment, macro, commodities and seasonality support higher equities prices in the week(s) ahead. The month of May typically starts strong and the NDX has been down 7 days in a row: combined, these suggest a positive start to the week is likely.
U.S. Presidential Election Brings Key Economic Issues into Focus
by Derek Hamilton of Ivy Investments,
The 2016 U.S. presidential election. has drawn more potential candidates, more controversy and perhaps more media coverage than any election in modern U.S. history. It also has been said that this year’s presidential contest is the most important of our time.* The same argument could be made from an economic perspective.
Second-Longest Bull Market Ever, Yet Investors Remain Skittish
If the US stock markets don’t collapse between now and Friday, this will be the second-longest bull market on record. Really. The current bull market began in March 2009 and will have lasted for 2,608 days (7.2 years) on Friday. If so, it will top the former second-longest bull market which ran from 1949 to 1956 (2,607 days). That’s quite impressive.
On My Radar: Glut – The U.S. Economy… in the Age of Oversupply
Today, my plan was to highlight two of my favorite analysts, Dr. Lacy Hunt and Dr. Gary Shilling. But that plan has changed and importantly, I believe, what I share this week can give us a better understanding of the structural issues we face. And how they might be fixed. Listening to Bloomberg’s Tom Keene early this week, I stood quiet as he interviewed Daniel Alpert.
Weekly Market Summary
by Urban Carmel of The Fat Pitch,
SPY made a new all-time high this week. The short and long term trend is higher. Despite a gain of 16% over the past 10 weeks, the majority of evidence indicates that investors largely remain skeptical and defensive. That, together with strong breadth, implies that higher highs still lie ahead. Shorter term, SPY is back to where it failed, repeatedly, to go higher in the spring, summer and fall of 2015. In the best scenario, attaining and then holding significant gains will likely take time.
ETFs … They Aren’t Your Father’s Oldsmobile
by Vern Sumnicht of iSectors,
For 12 years, we used active asset management, that is, professional money managers and/or actively managed mutual funds. After the dot.com bear market in 2000, we became more and more dissatisfied with the cost and performance of professional money managers. After much research….
The Newest Threat to Robo Advisors
by Robert Huebscher,
Today’s financial planning tools, including the new generation of “robo” advisors, have profound shortcomings, according to Dan diBartolomeo. DiBartolomeo says that the technology most advisors use suffers from serious problems – from prescribing a costly regimen of ongoing portfolio rebalancing to failing to incorporate a holistic balance sheet of assets and liabilities – and these problems are unwittingly depleting their clients’ assets.
On My Radar: First, Do No Harm
My 18-year-old son, Matthew, came to me asking about how the economy works. This summer he will be an intern and task one prior to his start date is to read “How the Economic Machine Works.” There is much we can learn from history and it makes sense to study the research from some of the brightest amongst us. From there, he and I will begin a dialogue.
Weighing the Week Ahead: Time to Sell the News?
The economic calendar is moderate. Fed Heads are mostly on the bench. The Doho oil conference (combining OPEC and non-OPEC producers) will be the first major news for the week ahead. Markets have already anticipated the outcome, just as they have the trend of first- quarter earnings. It is a classic test of the theme:
Is it time to sell the news?
Mid-Cap Dividend Growth Stocks by Sector: Part 2A Regional Banks
by Chuck Carnevale of F.A.S.T. Graphs,
In part 1 of this series on fairly valued mid-cap investment opportunities I primarily focused on non-dividend paying growth oriented mid-caps. In part 2 of this series I turned my focus to finding fairly valued dividend paying mid-caps. However, as I was evaluating dividend paying mid-caps in the S&P 400 mid-cap index, it became clear to me that the differences between dividend paying mid-caps were more important than the similarities. Therefore, I have grouped the dividend paying mid-caps I found into 3 separate offerings focusing on sectors. In this, part 2A, I will be exclusively covering fairly valued mid-sized regional banks.
Final DOL Fiduciary Rule
Last week, the Department of Labor issued much-anticipated final rules that impose a fiduciary duty on financial advisors to the extent they recommend investments for their clients’ IRA accounts. These final rules represent a significant improvement over the proposed rules DOL issued last year, although some fundamental concerns remain to be worked out.
Alpha or Assets? — Factor Alpha vs. Smart Beta
More and more investors are buying “factor”-based strategies, which invest using measures like valuation and low volatility. However, the most popular strategies are applying factors the wrong way. We believe that strategies should be built for alpha, not scale—but the asset management industry has gone in the opposite direction.
Emerging Nations Continue To See Huge Capital Outflows
If you are wondering why the global economy struggled last year and so far this year, one only has to look at the trend in capital flows of emerging nations. After decades of positive capital inflows to most emerging economies, that trend has reversed sharply in the last few years.
On My Radar: A Powerful and Reliable Determinant of Long-Term Investment Return
In my view, the bet today comes down to this: you believe the Fed can hold the market up (aka “the Fed Put”), you believe politicians can accomplish structural reform and you believe that the same holds true in Europe, China and Japan. Essentially, “whatever it takes” wins. Alternatively, you believe that extremely high equity market valuations matter, excessive debt is problematic and that it is ultimately impossible for central bankers, try as they might, to repeal economic business cycles.
Weighing the Week Ahead: Will Earnings Spark a Big Move in Stocks?
The economic calendar is moderate. Fed Heads are out in force. More significant is the start of “earnings season.” There is always speculation about earnings, but this time is special. I expect a focus on the question:
Will earnings spark a break in the trading range for stocks?
Do International Actively Managed Small-Cap Funds Add Value?
by Larry Swedroe,
One frequently hears active managers claim that they avoid the large-cap U.S. market because it’s too hard to find undervalued stocks. By that reasoning, actively managed small-cap international funds should be alpha-generating powerhouses. Let’s see if that’s true.
Never on a Friday
by Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James,
“Never on a Friday” is one of the mantras that has served me well over the years. Long time readers of these letters know its meaning. To wit, when the equity markets are involved in a pullback attempt they rarely bottom on a Friday. Nope, they tend to give participants time over the weekend to brood about their losses, tell their wives they can no longer buy the new Mercedes Benz (which makes for a pretty tense weekend), and consequently return to The Street of Dreams on Monday/Tuesday in “sell mode.” That sequence typically leads to the phrase “Turning Tuesday” implying the market bottoms either late in Monday’s trading session, or early the next day.
10 Mid-Size Stocks for Large-Size Gains: Part 1
by Chuck Carnevale of F.A.S.T. Graphs,
Small and mid-sized companies are often overlooked by many or even most investors. That’s unfortunate, because there are many excellent investment opportunities that can be found in these equity classes. However, an argument could be made that between the small and mid-cap equity classes, the best and perhaps less risky investment opportunities are found in mid-caps.
The Philosophy of Tops
by Jeffrey Saut of Raymond James,
Most of the time when I drudge up “The Philosophy of Tops” it is to warn of a pending market “top.” The operative line from Justin’s quip is, “One rule about tops is not that they provide this or that signal, but that they come before anyone is ready.” Manifestly, “[tops] come before anyone is ready!” But, currently EVERYONE is ready, either calling for a market “top,” or a continuation of the trading range market. I see very few of us who are suggesting that we remain in a secular bull market, and in bull markets most of the surprises come on the upside.
On My Radar: Fed Stuck Between Three Rocks and a Hard Place
“Now these monetary institutions are expected to continue producing miracles. But their ability to repeatedly pull new rabbits out of their policy hats has been stretched to an increasingly unsustainable degree.” -Mohamed A. El-Erian, The Only Game in Town
The Détente Agreement
“Corporate sector metrics have been disappointing of late… Companies are scaling back expenditures of all kinds (capital expenditures, hiring, and inventory-builds, for example), as their top-line revenues and earnings decelerate. Though first-quarter numbers may come in better than beaten-down forecasts, firms are finding that top line revenues are still hard to grow significantly.” Rick Rieder, Head of Global Fixed Income, BlackRock
Can You Earn Superior Returns?
by Kendall Anderson of Anderson Griggs,
I recently dusted off the Moto Guzzi and took a little ride to Alpharetta, Georgia. It was a perfect day for a motorcycle ride, at least for me. It was 60 degrees, sunny, and the wind was to my back. Covered from head to toe in full protective gear that my family calls the “power ranger suit,” I was neither cold nor hot. I was in a state of pure enjoyment.
Mixed Economic Data Supports Gold and Short-Term Munis
A batch of mixed economic data was released this week and last that underlines continued strength among U.S. businesses and manufacturers. But consumer confidence still seems to be held back by the global slowdown, central bank policy concerns and other factors. This suggests investors should remain cautious and might want to consider assets that have demonstrated an ability to preserve capital in times of uncertainty—gold and short-term municipal bonds among them.
Seven: Happy Anniversary Bull Market (?)
by Liz Ann Sonders of Charles Schwab,
Last week we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the U.S. bull market, which commenced on March 9, 2009 and has since generated a total return for the S&P 500 of 247%. The traditional gift for the seventh anniversary is copper, which is fitting since the strong rally many “risk-on” assets have staged since U.S. stocks bottomed on February 11, has been accompanied (driven?) by a surge in commodities, including copper and more importantly oil.
A Strategy that has Successfully Hedged Equity Exposure
by Robert Huebscher,
Randy Swan is president and CEO of Swan Global Investments and its portfolio manager. Since its inception in 1997 through February 29, 2016, the return for his strategy has been 8.38%, versus 6.23% for the S&P 500, and 6.26% for a balanced index of 60% S&P 500 and 40% Barclays US Aggregate Bond.
Results 2,251–2,300
of 3,303 found.
