Farming and agricultural equipment had a tough 2014. A sharp decline in prices of grains, including corn, soybean and wheat led to a fall in earnings of farmers. This in turn led to a fall in demand for agricultural equipment. This segment continues to face headwinds in 2015, but the outlook may not be grim…
Upper left chart highlights times when the SPX was down the first 3-days of the year and full year returns. As you can see, year-end results were mixed. Upper right chart highlights times when the SPX was down the first three days of a near year, looking back 50-years. It only happened once, which…
Financial professionals are blaming the latest round of risk asset uncertainty on a variety of factors, from the continuing sell-off in oil to the possibility of Greece being kicked out of the euro-zone. Still others are pointing to anxiety over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s intention to raise its overnight lending rate target in mid-2015 –…
MidWest One (MOFG) is our hot stock of the week and earns an Attractive rating. MidWest One, a smaller regional banking institution, had its ups and downs during 2014. The stock ended the year up only 3%, but was up 23% from its October lows. For many reasons, we feel MidWest One could be poised…
The last two months have not been kind to clean energy stocks. Most commentators attribute the weakness to declining oil prices and the Republicans’ strong showing in the midterm elections. Whatever the cause, my 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2014 model portfolio was dragged into a loss for the year where it had previously looked to return…
Gold prices advanced on Monday to log their highest settlement in nearly three weeks as political turmoil in Greece and weakness in equities spurred demand. European shares were under pressure after the Greek bourse continued to sink and sharp falls in regional inflation numbers out of Germany stoked fears of deflation. Both the Dow Jones, and…
As the U.S. bull market is turning six years of age, growth investing is gaining huge popularity. Because growth investing is basically a momentum play, it is a great strategy in a trending market (a market characterized by a prolonged uptrend). Naturally, when the broader market sentiments have a predetermined positive direction, there is hardly…
By most measures, one would think that 2014 was a relatively quiet year for the VIX and equity volatility in general. In fact, the average VIX of 14.19 was the lowest for the full year since 2006 and the third lowest going back to 1995. Of course, averages can be misleading and just as you…
Economists are among the most optimistic groups on the planet. Year in, year out they project improvements in growth. So today, despite despite 4th Consecutive Decline in Factory Orders, it’s no surprise that economists remain optimistic. Orders to U.S. factories fell for a fourth straight month in November, with demand in a key category that…
It appears “the trend is your friend” is only a mantra that ‘speculators’ are willing to follow for stocks as the incessant rally in US Treasury bonds has led traders to position for higher rates at the largest level since May 2010 (more short squeeze, rates to 1%-handle ammunition?). However, the surging stock market has merely encouraged more to…
