The Forbes 100 model on Covestor, managed by Philip Dhingra, banks on the philosophy that a great employer has a better chance of becoming a great success as a company. If this is correct, it would mean that employers who treat their employees well could make great investments. The model […]
U.S. markets ended the week on a high note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 47.6 points to 10,462.84, the Nasdaq rising 6.28 points to 2,242.48, and the S&P 500 climbing 5.37 points to 1,109.55. This week, between the news about European bank stress tests, the Federal Reserve’s September […]
The initial unemployment claims for the week of September 4th were released by the Department of Labor today. Surprisingly, they decreased more than expected—by a total of 27,000—which helped to significantly reduce the 4-week moving average and put investors in a more positive state of mind, especially since the unemployment […]
The September issue of the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book (a brief, countrywide economic snapshot created eight times per year) was released today. While the report gives a more comprehensive look at the many sectors of economic activity, the overarching theme was that there were some increases in consumer spending and […]
The collection and analysis of the second quarter 2010 financial statements is largely complete now and a broad based acceleration in corporate wealth is clearer. The average annual sales growth rate of the GEARS total market index is now positive and, over the past year, staged the sharpest “V” shaped improvement in the data record. Even with that unprecedented reversal, the average sales growth rate has recovered only to the cycle trough level of 2002.
The South America model at Covestor returned positive results in August even though the S&P 500 finished in the red, as well as Latin America as indicated by the iShares Latin America 40 Index ETF (ILF). It was a mediocre month for Brazilian stocks – the largest Brazilian fund, iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ), fell from $ 70.38 on July 30 to $67.75 on August 31 – but the Chilean and Peruvian equity in my portfolio performed well.
Another month, another failed rally. On the S&P 500, it is the fifth time since May this index has bounced off of the psychological “tax” or 1040 support line. A break below this may find the index down to 1000. Leadership did show up as cloud computing stocks...
The market experienced a fairly large pull back during the month of August and the portfolio did experience a decline but not nearly as much as the benchmarks, the S&P 500 and XLF, and slightly more than VNQ. Get your FREE weekly summary of Andy Schornack’s trades and performance here.
The below text is licensed to Covestor Ltd. (“Covestor”), by Dan Plettner. Such text may be disseminated only by Covestor. Dan Plettner invests and receives income for securities research, including “buy-side” research. Dan licenses his own real time trading data to Covestor Ltd. (“Covestor”). Covestor is a Registered Investment Advisor […]
The below text is licensed to Covestor Ltd. (“Covestor”), by Dan Plettner. Such text may be disseminated only by Covestor. Dan Plettner invests and receives income for securities research, including “buy-side” research. Dan licenses his own real time trading data to Covestor Ltd. (“Covestor”). Covestor is a Registered Investment Advisor […]
August was a lousy month for the markets, and my portfolio as well. My thesis remains the same though, but it's going to take more than a month to come to fruition. Which, to me, is perfectly fine.
I believe September will prove to be much more representative of a “normal market” than June, July, or August, simply because the market will have all participants engaged. Summer is always a low volume situation, and as such, prices of stocks can get distorted with wide spreads on low volume. One caveat, I thought the same thing held true two years ago, and when the bottom fell out of Lehman, Fannie and Freddie, etc, I was surprised at the magnitude of the selling for the next 6 months. I do not see any events like that on the horizon, and I do not believe we will have a double dip recession. I also believe the bond market is in a huge bubble, and investors will feel the pain of it popping, especially with 2yr, 10 yr, and 30 yr Treasuries trading at all time low yields.