Tag Archives: SPY

The Death Of Bonds Is Greatly Exaggerated

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Eric Parnell:

The bond bubble has burst and the 30-year bull market in bonds is finally over. Or so it would seem based on the flood of recent commentary from the financial media and press. While it has certainly been a most difficult stretch for bonds since the beginning of May, it is still far too premature to declare that the end is finally upon us for the bond market.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that bonds represent an attractive long-term buy-and-hold investment the way they have for the past 30 years. With interest rates having already fallen to historic lows, the scope is limited for interest rates to fall much further. But this does not mean that rates are poised to immediately explode higher, either. After all, Treasury yields still remain in their long-term downward sloping trend that began all the way back in late 1981. In fact, they


Complete Story »

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
Vodafone confirms Kabel Deutschland interest. Vodafone’s (VOD) shares were -3.95% premarket after its stock went ex-dividend and following the company’s confirmation that it is interested in acquiring Kabel Deutschland (KBDHY.OB). Vodafone has reportedly offered €10B for the German cable TV, Internet and telecom operator, whose shares were +9.5% at lunchtime in Frankfurt. That gives it a market cap of €7.17B. Any deal would mark a major departure by Vodafone from its focus on the cellular market.

U.K. regulator mulls probe into possible forex manipulation. The U.K.’s market supervisor, the Financial Conduct Authority, is reportedly considering opening an investigation into the alleged manipulation of WM/Reuters benchmark foreign-exchange rates, which are used to fix the value of trillions of dollars of investments. The practice has apparently been going on every day for at least a decade at major banks.

Amgen’s Enbrel blockbuster drug no better than


Complete Story »

The Paradigm Shift Has Begun – This Isn’t Going To Be Pretty

Topnews, Worldnews, , ,

ByJoseph Stuber:

There’s ample evidence of late that the Fed is trying to talk investors into moving back away from the edge of the cliff. My personal opinion is they are a little late and that opinion is based almost entirely on the structural flaws in the market today that leave very little dry powder left – in other words, there isn’t enough money on the sidelines to backstop a high volume sell-off.

We have witnessed the impact to price when an overbought and overleveraged market starts to sell off – most recently with the Nikkei. We’ve also seen this phenomenon occur in gold and Apple (AAPL). I think we may be very close to seeing the same thing occur in the broad market in U.S. equities.

First, to the point of the Fed’s messengers – here is an excerpt from a speech Jamie Dimon gave in China last Thursday as reported


Complete Story »

Bill Gross’s Dreadful Analysis Of The U.S. Economy’s ‘Wounded Heart’

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , ,

Basketball living-legend Lebron James shot an air-ball during last Thursday night’s Game 1 of the NBA Championships; he also threw up a brick at a key moment in Game 1 of the series against the Chicago Bulls that didn’t even touch rim. That ugly-looking heave by “King James” reminded me of a recently published essay entitled “Wounded Heart,” penned by “The Bond King” Bill Gross, a living legend in the investment field. King James’ embarrassing off-balance, double-clutch, fade-away floater reminded me of The Bond King’s essay because the latter struck me as containing some of most fundamentally unsound economic and financial analysis I have ever seen published by a respected analyst – much less from an investment hall of famer.

In "Wounded Heart," Gross argues that US Federal Reserve policies such as QE (Quantitative Easing) and ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) are destroying the "beating heart" of


Complete Story »

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
SoftBank raises bid for Sprint to $21.6B. SoftBank (SFTBF.PK) has sweetened its bid for Sprint (S) by increasing its offer to $21.6B from $20.1B – or $7.65 vs $7.30 – and raising the cash component by $4.5B. The deal would also give the Japanese carrier 78% of Sprint instead of 70%. Paulson, owner of 7%+ in Sprint, backs SoftBank’s revised proposal. Dish (DISH), which has made a $7-a-share bid for Sprint worth $25.5B, is reviewing its options. Clearwire (CLWR) remains a wild card.

BOJ refrains from adding to stimulus. As expected, the Bank of Japan has kept its ultra-loose monetary policy unchanged, although it gave a slightly more upbeat outlook for exports and the wider economy. The BOJ also said "some indicators suggest a rise in inflation expectations." Some market participants had hoped that the bank would take action to address bond volatility, such as by


Complete Story »

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
Nikkei jumps 4.9% as Japan GDP revised up. Japan has revised its annualized Q1 GDP reading to 4.1% from an initial reading of 3.5%, helping to send the Nikkei (EWJ, DXJ) up 4.9%. A strengthening of the dollar against the yen following U.S. payroll data on Friday also helped boost stocks. However, Barclays warned that the GDP revision “should not be viewed as a reflection of economic strength,” as it was mainly due to a quirk in the way the data is calculated.

Booz Allen employee source of NSA leaks. Government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) has become caught up in the revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs after one of its employees, Edward Snowden, came forward as the source of the leaks. Booz Allen has said in securities filings that leaks could hurt its business – the firm generated 98% of


Complete Story »

Weighing The Week Ahead: A Tipping Point For Stocks?

Topnews, Worldnews, , ,

By Jeff Miller:

Each week I consider the upcoming calendar and the current market, predicting the main theme we should expect. This step is an important part of my trading preparation and planning. It takes more hours than you can imagine. My record is pretty good, with recent topics including Fedspeak, increased volatility, and a focus on interest rates – all very accurate.

Sometimes there is no clear theme, and I try to be honest about that. In the past I have described it as a “lull before the storm” and as “waiting for evidence.” This week I see an absence of major new data. At the same time the markets are at a crucial point for both technicians and traders. That is the main reason for the recent volatility. I see the following key questions?

  • Is this a potential tipping point for markets – both bonds and stocks?
  • What is the real


Complete Story »

Equity Momentum – June 2013

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , ,

By Ploutos:

Near the beginning of each month, I am authoring articles updating the performance of monthly momentum strategies across various markets. Earlier this week, I published articles on fixed income and equity/fixed income momentum strategies. This is the third article in this series to be updated at the beginning of each month, and will be focused on momentum strategies within the equity universe. The switching strategy between the U.S. and emerging markets continued its strong performance in May, but the low volatility/high volatility switching strategy had its 19th worst performance in the 270 month history of the data, a return I will examine in more detail.

The purpose of this series of articles is to demonstrate the long-run success of these strategies, and give Seeking Alpha readers with differing risk tolerances tips on how to employ these strategies themselves to improve the performance of their respective portfolio. These are useful strategies


Complete Story »