I’ve had growing concerns over the looming pension liabilities that so many local and state governments face and the recent Detroit bankruptcy could be changing things… It now appears likely that the Michigan courts will rule in favor of the pension/benefit obligations, knocking the “senior” General Obligation (GO) muni bonds down a peg. GO muni’s…
Bonds & Rates
A very important part of investing is recognizing when you’re wrong as quickly as possible to minimize losses. After watching Bernanke’s Q&A session yesterday after the close, I’m ready to admit I was wrong on interest rates. I’ve never seen someone stumble through questions like that before. It was almost hard to watch! It’s as…
Stocks
We’re sitting right under the line in the sand. It will be a good sign if the S&P 500 can break above the last pivot high on June 18th of 1654.19. Today’s high was…1654.18!! The Dow Industrial Average also fell short by 20 points of clearing. Until we clear these levels the short-term correction is…
Stocks
We’ve had some choppy days lately but as I said last week, so far this has been a textbook correction for stocks. The S&P 500 is still fairly overbought in the long-term, trading near the high-end of this 3-year price channel. S&P 500 – 8 years (weekly) Looking a little closer, we haven’t seen enough…
Market Update: Everything Takes a Slide
Literally every asset class (but US dollars) has been falling since yesterday’s FOMC announcement. This shows how far things have been driven by excess liquidity – not fundamentals. In my humble opinion, the US bond market is overreacting to the announcement and has this one wrong, creating an opportunity. I think intermediate bonds offer nice…
Interest Rates
Bonds have been in a bull market for over 30 years, culminating with multiple Quantitative Easing efforts by the Fed to suppress interest rates at all-time lows. The big question since 2009 has been: when and how quickly will rates rise? It’s a concern because it will have a big impact on bond funds since…
Emerging Markets
Emerging Markets have been outright crushed this year. This is part of the capital flows exiting these hot economies as fear of the Fed cutting back on QE grows. It’s important to be patient when investing in any asset class, but it’s double important when it comes to the Emerging Markets. These economies/companies are very…
New Stock Buys
As the stock market continues higher, it’s becoming harder and harder to find new companies to buy at prices I consider favorable. But every now and then a stock jumps off the screen as an opportunity you just can’t pass up! My most recent addition to growth-oriented portfolios is a company called Catamaran. They offer…