Wall Street got almost all it was looking for from the Fed yesterday. A 75 bps reductions in rates was not quite the hoped for whisper number of 100 bps but good enough to send the markets into orbit in a repeat performance of last Tuesday. Whether this exuberance will last is an entirely different question. Fundamentally, nothing has changed …
Will The Fed’s New Loan Facility Work?
The Fed last week introduced another scheme called “Term Securities Lending Facility,” which allows it to lend to securities dealers on top of funds already injected in the system. I am losing count, but it appears to be the third attempt in the last few months to get a handle on the credit crises. Bill Fleckenstein reflects on this latest …
Too Big To Fail?
The biggest news item last Friday and all weekend has been the collapse of Bear Stearns after their stock value got sliced in half. Had it not been for the intervention of the Fed via JP Morgan, the markets would have tanked big time. To me, it was a clear case of a company being to big to let go …
Sunday Musings: Staying Put?
Whenever financial markets slide into bear market territory, there are bound to be numerous articles appearing online or in print touting the “benefits” of staying put with your investments. It is as if nothing has been learned from the all too recent bear market of 2000-2003. MarketWatch featured such a story titled “Grit and bear it.” Let’s look at some …
Another One Bites The Dust
Not only have investments in Subprime slime wreaked havoc with banks and hedge funds, a ridiculous amount of leverage has made the problem far worse and added to the rather sudden demise of various institutions. The latest victim was Carlyle Capital, which went from recently owning some $22 billion in mortgage securities to now expecting that lenders will seize its …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 3/13/2008
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpHuge swings in the markets and an emergency rescue funding plan of Bear Stearns kept traders on edge. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs remains now -1.22% below its long-term trend line (red), which means we are in bear market territory. The international index dropped to -10.06% below its …