2014 was a relatively sluggish year for international markets. While the U.S. indices were setting new all-time highs seemingly year round, most international economies were reeling under global pressures. Per MSCI, the World ex USA index is down 5.9% so far this year, while countries within the European Monetary Union (EMU) have turned out to…
Here is a update in response to a standing request from a couple of sources that I also share with regular visitors to my Advisor Perspectives pages. The request is for real (inflation-adjusted) charts of the S&P 500, Dow 30, and Nasdaq Composite. In response, I maintain two overlays — one with the nominal price,…
I think most of the adults had the day off today, making it a four day weekend for the senior traders and all but the most hard core of punters, whose life seems empty when the market are not open. Stocks opened like gangbusters, reflecting the jump in the overnight futures, but fell rather sharply…
The crises of yesteryear almost seem quaint. Did investors really need to fret the possibility of the world’s 44th economy (Greece) exiting the euro-zone back in 2011? The stock market ultimately prevailed. Why did the fiscal cliff, sequestration and government shutdown concerns cause so much anxiety in 2012? U.S. stocks eventually powered ahead by roughly…
The 2014 year-end closing in the Dow was strong, but not quite ready for liftoff. The failure to close above the 18500 level only keeps the Dow in a base-building position for what is to come. Only a closing below 16978 will signal a brief pause in trend. We will be addressing this in a…
French economist Thomas Piketty, author of the surprise best-selling Capital in the 21st Century turned down France’s top award, the Legion D’Honneur. “I do not think it is the government’s role to decide who is honourable”, said Piketty. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman called it “the most important economics book of the year – and maybe of…
China is to 2014 as Japan was to 1989 – – that is, the global savior of all things financial, including real estate. Here in the Bay Area, skyrocketing home prices (especially for trophy properties) are partially attributed to rich Chinese buyers looking for a safe (!) haven. There’s no way I’d buy into it,…
Chris Waltzek interviewed John Embry on GoldSeek Radio this week. Embry is Chief Investment Strategist at Sprott Asset Management and shares many of Peter Schiff’s views on the United States economy, which he believes is heading towards a currency crisis. He emphasized what a great opportunity investors have right now to get into precious metals…
While Jim Cramer went “all-in on oil stocks” in May 2014 (right before the collapse), it was the fracking sand-providers that were the most-loved stocks on many individual investors buying lists last year… until their worlds caved in. As WSJ reports, for many sand producers, this is their first time on the bucking bronco that is the cyclical energy business—and…
The airline industry has been the major bright spot of the market, but has all the easy money been made? These lesser known airlines are where you will find the biggest share price gains in the industry going in to 2015. Act now before the rest of the market wises up and the rally begins. …
