Over the weekend, I talked about European debt concerns, which again moved to the front page yesterday and pushed the markets lower at the opening. At issue were worries as to whether Portugal and Spain, and to some degree Italy, may need to be bailed out and if they were able to fund their borrowing needs later on this week. …
Dollar Strength Equals Equity Weakness
The dollar and the domestic stock market have been moving in opposite directions over the past couple of years. This relationship is clearly visible in the above 1-year chart. However, lately there seems to have been some decoupling as the WSJ reports in “Dollar To Stocks: You Can Go Your Own Way?”For much of the fall, after Fed chairman Ben …
Sunday Musings: A Scary World
Reader Mark has some justified concerns as to where we’re going economically and how we can prepare ourselves investment wise for an uncertain future. Here’s what he wrote: I want to ask you about something that is beginning to worry me as it relates to the markets domestically and to a lesser degree internationally. Much of the world is pinned …
Little Volume—Big Returns
Reader David pointed to a link titled “ETFs With Little Volume but Big Returns, Revisited” and commented as follows: This article discusses “wide-spread confusions” re the significance of an ETF’s average daily volume, or per-minute dollar amount traded. I am one of those confused, and I would appreciate your discussion of this article. I recall you writing that you avoid …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 1/6/2011
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpThe first trading day of the year made the week, and the S&P; 500 added 0.8%. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has moved above its trend line (red) by +4.82% (last week +5.09%) and remains in bullish mode. The international index has broken above its long-term trend line …
Heading To Higher Ground
Sometimes, Wall Street simply chooses to ignore good news. That was the case yesterday as the ADP National Employment Report estimated that 297,000 jobs were created, which was nearly triple of expectations. Another report showed that non-manufacturing expanded rapidly and at the fastest clip since 2006. The markets sold off early but clawed back and managed a modest but steady …