All Entries in the "Investing" Category
Is Stocks For the Long Run a Lie?
I can’t believe what I just read. Mark Hulbert publishes The Hulbert Financial Digest a monthly financial newsletter tracking service. As of the end of February, the best performing newsletter in his database dating back to 1980 belongs to a guy who is 89% cash. Get this – he has been primarily in cash since [...]
401Ks: Main Street’s Friend or Foe?
After the market was pounded to the tune of -40% last year, most didn’t think that it could get much worse. Well it has. January and February of 2009 have the esteemed privilege of being the worst first two months in the DOW’s 113 year history. After two months, the DOW is off nearly 20%. [...]
401K to 201K – Next Stop 101K ?
Our hope of a better stock market in 2009 is off to a rocky start. January goes down in the record books as the worst January EVER. If the old adage “so goes January – so goes the year holds true” why are we playing this game? If you aren’t asking yourself that question – [...]
Look out Wall Street: Investors Are Getting Fed Up
Lifecycle funds are Wall Street’s latest concoction for the average investor. These funds invest in a combination of equity, fixed-income and short term funds. The funds use an automatic asset allocation strategy that becomes increasingly more conservative as one’s retirement date approaches. Since most set their allocation when joining a 401K plan and occasionally make [...]
Wall Street: Capitulation Watch, the Lie and the Mouse
Have we hit the bottom? That’s the million dollar question. I wish that I had the answer for you. I watch CNBC (too much) and all of the clowns that were calling for bottoms in March and July have gone radio silent. That’s been replaced with capitulation look out. Capitulation is when there is a [...]
Jason Meets the Stock Market
The stock market is feeling like a Friday the 13th movie. Just when you think it can’t get any worse – Jason shows up again. The amount of wealth that has been destroyed over the past few months is beyond my comprehension. Personally, I think the greed of a few on Wall Street has damaged [...]
Stock Market Turmoil: You Can’t Explain Stupid
I heard a great explanation of the current market turmoil a few days ago – “you can’t explain stupid.” For a moment, let’s set aside the personal loss and devastation of a hurricane and think about it purely from an oil pricing perspective. About 25% of the US oil and 20% of natural gas production [...]
Where Would the Stock Market be without Uncle Ben
The stock market has been on the brink of breaking three times this year alone and four if you go back to August of last year. Each time the good ole gumint stepped in to save the day. In January, on Martin Luther King Day, with the US markets closed the world markets were in [...]
Bear Stearns Fiasco a Reminder for Us Little Guys
It is getting uglier and uglier. Bear Stearns (BSC) a major Wall Street investment bank nearly filed for bankruptcy this weekend. In a fire sale, J.P. Morgan with backing from the Fed bought Bear Stearns for $2 per share. Bear Stearns closed at $30 per share on Friday. A little over a year ago, January [...]
“Smart” Computers are Turning the Stock Market Upside Down
The DOW triggered by a French Bank citing U.S subprime mortgage issues free falls 380 points and two homebuilders Beazer Homes (BZH) and Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) go up 10%. Often stocks up on down market days are signalling good news ahead. What kind of news could be on the horizon for homebuilders? Maybe they will set a record for the most unsold homes in [...]
