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 …
Evaluation Time
Wall Street’s high about the Fed’s $200 billion intervention was replaced by more rational thinking in that some of the main concerns like weak housing and continued credit concerns had not been really resolved but still remain a serious problem to be dealt with. The markets retreated and received no support to the upside with oil prices topping $110/barrel. While …
Shifting Risk
Euphoria returned to Wall Street yesterday as the Fed, in what I consider a desperate move to curtail the financial meltdown, let banks borrow money from the Fed using questionable assets as collateral. The whole idea seems odd to me since banks were not able to liquidate their Subprime holdings in the open market place (no bidders) but now found …