The world’s second biggest economy is Japan (behind the good ol’ USA). China, India, and Brazil have economies growing at upwards of 10% annually. That’s a lot faster then the roughly 2.5% expected US growth over the next year or so (absent a recession, of course). Together those three economies almost equal the U.S. in [...]
The Dow, S&P and NASDAQ are touching their lows for the year, down some 8% – 9%. The definition of a market correction is a 10% decline. A 20% decline is to be expected if there is a moderate recession or the expectation of one. Are we headed for a recession? Let’s review the economic [...]
Or a Yuan. (My apologies to all you Cabaret fans.) As a mutual fund or ETF investor you need to be aware of the currency risks you’re taking when investing internationally. Is your fund hedged against the dollar or not? Do you want your fund to be hedged or not? What difference does it make [...]
When the major stock market averages declined by 10% from their 2007 highs on Monday, we were in official market correction. Sentiment is negative owing to the economic back drop of, at best, tepid growth according to the Fed, or a recession. Consumers twenty-five credit binge fueled by home equity loans, credit cards arriving in [...]
The economy faces serious challenges in 2008: 1. New home sales are at a 16 year low and may go lower; 2. Inflation will be high for the next few months as energy and food prices work their way through the economy; 3. Retail sales will be weak, as evidenced by the Christmas season; 4. [...]
A current theme among Wall Street wealth managers is for individual investors to have index funds as their core holdings and to focus the remainder of their assets in high alpha investments, which will produce returns not correlated with the market. A quick digression for those of you who aren’t familiar with alpha and beta. [...]
Which of your investments worried you most during the recent market correction? If it was one of your smaller holdings, you’re not alone. We all have only so much time and so many brain cells to devote to investing. If you’re focusing yours on a tiny portion of your investments, the majority of your net [...]