With the Olympic Games being upon us, I was reminded of a reader’s comment last year. China’s ETF (FXI) had come off its high by 10% causing us to liquidate our positions. This reader wrote in to say that he would hang on to FXI until after the Olympics and then get out. I have heard this argument before that …
Bulls On The Run
The bulls partied and enjoyed a swig from the punch bowl after oil prices broke below $120/barrel and the Fed, as expected, left interest rates unchanged. Bargain hunters stepped in doing some buying while short-covering helped the bullish cause. It’s not secret that the Fed is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Yesterday, they chose boosting the economy …
Which Asset Classes Are Hot?
Seeking Alpha featured a story titled “REITs Pop While Commodities Flop,” showed a summarized table showing various assets class returns of various time periods. Let’s take a look: While commodities were the hot item for most of this year, the trend has clearly reversed as the sharp 1-monht drop of DJP shows. REITs, as represented by VNQ, have shown a …
Investing In Financials
Based on reader email, I know that there are many investors out there itching to try to pick a bottom in the severely beaten up financial sector. It’s beyond my understanding why the desire to gamble is so prevalent in that area. The Big Picture had some enlightening comments on the subject. Here are some excerpts: Just when you think …
Sunday Musings: Stating The Obvious
MarketWatch featured and article titled “Choose fund managers who stay ahead of the curve,” in which the editor of the No-Load Fund Investor newsletter (Mark Salzinger) states that you should avoid managers who believe “the market is wrong and they are right.” Here’s a snippet: In a radio interview, Salzinger defined that type of manager as one who is unwilling …
Bucking The Trend
One way to evaluate if an ETF or mutual fund still has long-term upward momentum is to look at the %M/A column in my weekly StatSheet, which simply shows if a fund is above or below its trend line and by what percentage. Many once hot sectors like energy and commodities, along with most country funds, have dropped severely and …