Sometimes the best investment advice is to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. When the stock market was in free fall during the financial crisis, many investors…
Paper Taper
So the taper begins in January. Big deal. That was the market’s initial reaction anyway. In fact, the market viewed this week’s announcement as a positive, setting yet another record. …
Getting Your Bond Portfolio in Shape for 2014
It’s time to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. It’s an American tradition to resolve to lose weight, exercise regularly, be nicer, work harder and give up everything you enjoy.…
Taperphobia Hits Wall Street
A taperphobia epidemic has Wall Street in a panic yet again. “Taperphobia” is an irrational fear of common sense. Symptoms include a falling stock market, soaring bond yields and ongoing…
Breaking China
If the United States relies on China as its main lender, what happens when China is having difficulties with its debt? We may soon find out. As the Financial Times…
America – The New Europe?
Defaulting on bond payments isn’t just for Europe anymore. Detroit and several cities in California have defaulted on bond payments. Now Puerto Rico may be in trouble, as its bonds…
Market Reaction To Comments Reflects Market Efficiency
It’s worth keeping the efficient market hypothesis in mind when considering the impact of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s announcement this week that bond buying will be coming to an end.…
Swinging Markets Ahead
Volatility is back in a big way. It’s back not only in the stock market, but in the bond market. It’s back not only in the U.S., but in China,…
Take Advantage of Rising Interest Rates by Understanding Duration
Recently, there has been a lot of news about rising interest rates ending the bond rally. Investors who have a significant percentage of their investments in bonds may be getting…
Financial Tsunami
In a recent post, we speculated about what would happen when quantitative easing finally ends. This week we got a glimpse. After Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that…