billion, up from $3.1 billion the previous year. In 2009 they also reduced their total liabilities to $468.8 billion from $482.7 billion the previous year.
Strategies
3355 posts
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.
Author: Yale Bock (YH&C Investments) August 30, 2010 US Economic & Financial Markets Outlook: The “We’re “Bleeped” Economy (Louis Black), Bonds vs. Stocks, and Why the Bond Market Might Be the Biggest Threat to the U.S. Economy. Louis Black is a hysterically funny comedian, which is special, but even more […]
There has been a lot of talk recently about a possible double-dip recession. I think many investors are overreacting, not because I think another recession is unlikely, but because most people don't really know much about the economy and how economies work in general (myself included). The economy is too large and complicated for anyone to fully comprehend. It's a worldwide complex adaptive system with billions of moving parts. Trying to predict the economy is like trying to predict the stock market.
The cover of the August 30th issue of Barron’s might well have read “Abandon Hope All Ye Individual Investors Who Enter Here” (apologies to Dante Alighieri). First, Alan Abelson informs us that the deck is stacked against us, then Vito Racanelli tells us it’s not a stock picker’s market, and later on Jim McTague explains how the May 6th Flash Crash might have been rigged. What’s an independent investor to do? Follow the herd into the bond market? Find refuge in cash?