I was just as surprised as anybody else when BofA announced an agreement to take over troubled mortgage lender Countrywide. As you may recall, BofA had made a $2 billion investment last year, when the stock price hovered around $18. Why would they now throw good money after bad? Some analysis I read offered the thought that maybe the Fed …
Sunday Musings: Dr. Housing Bubble
Some time ago, I came across an interesting website dealing with the analysis of the California, and at times nationwide, housing market. The site is appropriately named Dr. Housing Bubble and, in a recent article (12/26/07) it featured a special edition titled “Real State of Genius: Today we Salute you California with Our Real Home of Genius Award! 10 Homes …
Definition: Debt Crisis Vs. Liquidity Crisis
Several readers have asked if we are currently in a debt or liquidity crisis, or both. Minyanville’s Kevin Depew had an excellent write-up explaining the differences. Here is an excerpt: Here is an interesting data point that many may not have noticed. Since the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee began lowering interest rates on Sep. 18, the S&P; 500 has …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 1/10/2008
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpThe bears continued their assault on the bulls and came out a winner again. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has moved to +2.02% above its long-term trend line (red) as the chart below shows: The international index dropped to -7.20% below its own trend line, keeping us in …
What A Difference A Week Makes
Not withstanding yesterday’s rebound, this year has been a tough one for all major indexes. Even many country and sector funds have seen their long-term trends interrupted if not ended. Here are some interesting stats for the various investment orientations I track in my data base. As of 12/31/07, there were considerably more no load funds/ETFs showing strong momentum figures …
Towards Bear Market Territory?
Yesterday’s sudden market reversal to the downside pushed our domestic indicator Trend Tracking Index (TTI) further towards bear market territory. The domestic TTI is now positioned only +2.32% above its long-term trend line, while the international TTI has slipped even further south to -6.91%. This again confirms our Sell signal in that area, which was effective as of 11/13/07. It …