With yesterday’s elections, and the Fed’s announcement about QE-2, we made it through two big events with only Friday’s unemployment numbers waiting on deck. The elections turned out pretty much as expected, so there was no noticeable effect on market behavior or the general trend. I was watching the intra-day charts when QE-2 was announced, as confusion reigned at the …
Hopes Prevail
The major indexes rallied right out of the gate yesterday and never looked back. Hopes prevailed that the Fed will implement its program today to boost the economy as Wall Street in general bet on a Republican win. By the time you read this, the votes will all have been counted and the results and potential impact will be analyzed. …
Hanging On
The month of November started out with a bang yesterday, but the rally was short lived with the major indexes slipping towards the unchanged line at the close. Strong industrial output from China along with a decent report on U.S. manufacturing combined to lend an assist early on, but with the elections, the Fed announcement and the unemployment numbers lurking …
Rare Earth Metals ETF
This past week, Van Eck Funds introduced the Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF with the ticker REMX (see 5-day chart courtesy of YahooFinance). Much has been written about rare earth metals lately as China, which produces 95% of the world’s elements, has threatened to limit exports of these crucial metals. REMX invests in the stock of companies that mine minerals such …
Sunday Musings: Marching In Sync
Chart courtesy of YahooFinance Emails, along with references to articles about the impending bond bubble, keep coming. Some even suggest that now is the time to go short treasuries. To recap, the happy trio is still marching in sync. I refer to the happy trio as being gold (GLD), the domestic stock market (VTI) and the domestic bond market (BND). …
Fed Zombies
In case you missed it, MarketWatch reports that “Fed zombies are hungry for quantitative easing:” The easy-money policies of Federal Reserve chairmen Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan have rarely impressed veteran fund manager Jeremy Grantham, but now the chief investment strategist at GMO, a Boston investment firm, is likening Fed actions to an economic horror show.“Adhering to a policy of …