Mish at Global Economic Trend Analysis reviewed the demographics of jobless claims and in his article he referred to the credit binge as follows: The structural problems created by a 25 year credit binge simply are not going to be cured by a two quarter recession that Paulson and other economic cheerleaders will not even admit has started. Peter Bernstein …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 5/1/2008
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpOur Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has moved now +1.34% above its long-term trend line (red), which means we remain close to breaking out to the upside of the neutral zone (+1.50%). The international index dropped to -1.17% below its own trend line, keeping us in a sell mode. …
Breaking Out To The Upside
In a reversal from yesterday, the markets opened higher and never looked back with the S&P; 500 closing above 1,400 for the first time since January. Financials provided leadership, as energy was knocked lower by a drop in oil prices. The dollar rose and the Commodity Index was pushed to its lowest level in 4 weeks. Gold dropped as well …
Rally Evaporates
As expected, the Fed cut the fed funds rate and the discount rate by 0.25% each. The accompanying statement regarding inflation concerns was largely unchanged from last month. The Fed further elaborated that readings on core inflation have improved somewhat and that trend should moderate in the coming quarters. Apparently, that was not good enough for the Wall Street crowd, …
All Eyes On The Fed
Market activity has been sloppy over the past couple of days with anxiety rising as to whether the Fed will cut rates again tomorrow. The decision will be announced around 2:15 PM EST. Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) pulled back and are situated as follows: Domestic TTI: +1.11%International TTI: -2.72% We are holding on to some our small positions in …
The Annuity Game
While I don’t always agree with Paul Farrell’s viewpoints, he did write a nice piece about annuities called “Clip Job.” If you own an annuity, or are consider investing in one, you owe it to yourself to read the entire article. Here are some highlights: Although I rarely write about annuities anymore, over the years I’ve built a huge file …