Investment managers regard the 200-day moving average price of an index such as the S&P 500 or of an individual stock as the dividing line. An index or stock trading…
Market Going In Wrong Direction
With profits exceeding analyst forecasts and a debt-ceiling agreement reached, there was reason to believe that the market might be ready to reverse direction and head back up last week.…
IPOs Making A Comeback – For Large Companies
Judging by the LinkedIn IPO, “going public” may be fashionable again. Investors lucky enough to own LinkedIn shares (i.e., employees and a small number of wealthy, well-connected investors) saw their…
T-Bills, Munis Are Hot … Compared With Everything Else
You could say that the yield on three-month Treasury bills has quintupled this month, which would explain why they are in demand. Or you could say that yields on three-month…
Day Traders Returning
The Wall Street Journal recently noted that day traders are returning to the market. When speculative traders start betting on the market, it’s typically a sign of trouble ahead. Their…
Pick One: High Risk or Low Returns
Here’s your choice: Take on lots of risk and hope for the best or watch your standard of living erode. The stock market has been soaring, thanks to the Federal…
The Myth of Market Efficiency
“Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” – John F. Kennedy The current stock market is exposing the myth of market efficiency. The myth says…
“Buy and Hold” Is NOT “Still A Winner”
Investors are being advised by Princeton Professor Burton G. Malkiel (“ ‘Buy and Hold’ Is Still A Winner”) to hang in there, even when the market drops 60% of its…
QE2: Will Investors Buy Higher Prices?
The chief role of the Federal Reserve used to be to fight inflation. It was a role the Fed played well, generally holding inflation in check since the 1980s. With…
When Good News Is Bad News
Sometimes investment managers live in Bizzaro world, the place in the old Superman comics where everything is the opposite of what logic would dictate. A case in point is the…