Sir John Templeton once said: “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.” If he was right, investor sentiment seems to support the idea the bull market may be around for a while. The American Association of Individual Investors’ most recent poll indicated investors aren’t feeling very […]
If it looks like a bond, and it acts like a bond…oh…that’s the problem. Government bonds aren’t acting the way investors expect. Last week, 10-year U.S. Treasuries – which, typically, are thought to be safe and stable investments – suffered the biggest one-week sell off since June 2013, according to The Wall Street Journal. Treasuries […]
Is it possible to have an economic optical illusion? On Friday, the Commerce Department reported the U.S. economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.7 percent during the first quarter of 2015. The Federal Reserve sees things slightly differently. Previously, the Commerce Department had reported our gross domestic product (GDP), which is the value of […]
The U.S. Treasury market is a bit like a lake in the midst of a drought. All the action – fish, frogs, crawdads, and such – that was once hidden in the depths has become a lot more visible as the water shallows. For decades, traders and investors have turned to U.S. government debt – […]
Government bonds have gone wild! Sure, you might expect high-yield bonds to act unpredictably from time to time. That’s why they’re high-yield bonds. They don’t receive investment-grade ratings – BBB through AAA – from leading credit rating agencies because they’re not considered to be as creditworthy as investment grade bonds. U.S. Treasuries are a different […]
Stock markets tipped into the red last week. Major indices in the United States and elsewhere dipped lower as U.S. economic growth came in below expectations. The Commerce Department reported gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.2 percent annualized during the first quarter. Growth was hindered by the strength of the U.S. dollar, which made […]
Remember the dot-com bubble? If so, you’ll appreciate this week’s notable event: The NASDAQ Composite Index, which includes a fair number of technology stocks, transcended its previous high (set in March 2000). Share values in the tech sector gained 4 percent last week, according to Barron’s, as major players in the space delivered better-than-expected earnings […]
It’s a topsy-turvy world. In the United States, during the last quarter of 2014, about seven million (13 percent) of all mortgaged residential properties were underwater, meaning the mortgage loan amount was at least 25 percent higher than the estimated market value of the property, according to RealtyTrac.com. That’s a significantly lower number than the […]
How much is one trillion? • If you waited one trillion seconds, it would take 31,688 years. • If you had a trillion dollars, and spent $10 million a day, it would take 273 years to go broke. • If you taped $100 bills end-to-end, you could wrap the earth 41 times with $1 trillion […]