Daily Markets - Financial News And Opinions

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• The Mexico ETF Is Overlooked By Many Investors
• Forex Trading: Gbp/Usd Threatening To Break Feb. 26 High
• On The US Dollar And Energy Prices: Some Counter-Intuitive Views From Chris Temple
• How To Tell If The Books Are Cooked
• Beating The S&P 500 With Equal Weight ETF
• Stock Market Valuation Now Expensively Valued On Long-Term Basis
• The Fed Is Now Held Captive By The White House
• Active Management Is Alive And Well
• US Government Sees Elevated Unemployment For ‘Extended Period’
• Fed Decision Gives Traders Go Ahead To Sell US Dollar Against Other Currencies
• Under The Microscope: QAI
• Stock Picks For Wednesday 17 March: Gigamedia, Level 3 Communications, Life Technologies Corporation
• My Scrappy Little Portfolio
• Video: The Day Ahead: US Producer Price Index
• Not Just Sovereign Debt, US Junk Bonds Are Also Catastrophic

The Mexico ETF Is Overlooked By Many Investors Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:01 AM PDT “When it comes to Latin America, Brazil in many investors minds, takes the cake. With its abundant natural resources, growing middle class and strong government, it can be considered the poster child for the region. However, a somewhat forgotten Latin superstar maybe just what your portfolio needs. Spring breakers and tequila aside, Mexican stocks have outperformed their Brazilian cousins, year to date, and have rallied more than 109% over the past year,” Aaron Levitt reports From … [visit site to read more]

Forex Trading: Gbp/Usd Threatening To Break Feb. 26 High Posted: 17 Mar 2010 03:00 AM PDT On the strength of better than expected jobless claims change the GBP/USD has escalted to a high of 1.5335, exceeding Feb. 26 high of  1.5322. In the short term iI would expect a slight correction , possibly down to 1.5300 with the pair still in a bullish mode. If the pair can break clean above 1.5322 (close above) from a daily perspective, this would be further confirmation of a bullish outlook for sterling. The next stop for the pair should be … [visit site to read more]

On The US Dollar And Energy Prices: Some Counter-Intuitive Views From Chris Temple Posted: 17 Mar 2010 02:01 AM PDT For the last couple years, the US dollar has had a big impact on the global oil price - if the greenback goes up, oil goes down, and vice versa.  Chris Temple is a near-to-medium-term US dollar bull. His newsletter - The National Investor - is ranked #1 on a risk-adjusted-basis in North America for the last five years by the Hulbert Financial Digest, and #5 in nominal returns. Because of his track record, I wanted to hear his thoughts on where he thinks the US dollar is headed, and what … [visit site to read more]

How To Tell If The Books Are Cooked Posted: 17 Mar 2010 01:01 AM PDT Yesterday I promised to reveal how you can ferret out if a company is faking earnings. I should warn you, the tips I discuss below are nothing close to an exact science, and they won’t catch all of the deception all of the time. They’re just the bare minimum of the due diligence necessary to act responsibly as an investor. After all, it’s your hard-earned money. If you don’t do the work, then you’re only hurting yourself. But even if you scrutinize an investment and research its … [visit site to read more]

Beating The S&P 500 With Equal Weight ETF Posted: 17 Mar 2010 12:41 AM PDT Over the years, there has been much debate in the investment community over an equal-weighted index vs. weighting by market cap or share price.  There are pros and cons to each method of weighting.  For instance, while the S&P500 is comprised of 500 stocks representing a broad swath of sectors in the US, the top 10 holdings represent 19% of the total index weighting (2% of stocks represent 19% weighting for an almost 10X “over-representation”).  Case in point: ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) … [visit site to read more]

Stock Market Valuation Now Expensively Valued On Long-Term Basis Posted: 16 Mar 2010 11:31 PM PDT With the S&P 500 Index and a number of other benchmark stock market indices flirting with cycle highs, I will be monitoring things very closely over the next few days to see if the market’s overbought condition spells more downside potential than an expected consolidation. Or will the Index surprise us and fly trough the 1,151 area? In addition to being overbought, the S&P 500 is also now expensively valued on a long-term cyclically adjusted PE (CAPE) basis, according to Robert … [visit site to read more]

The Fed Is Now Held Captive By The White House Posted: 16 Mar 2010 10:41 PM PDT Is the White House now in charge of both fiscal and monetary policy? The Federal Reserve just released its March statement confirming no change in its monetary policy and little change in economic outlook. A brief overview of the Fed’s statement includes the following: >> Maintains the Fed Funds range at 0-.25% for an extended period. >> The quantitative easing program used to purchase $1.25 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and $125 billion in federal agency … [visit site to read more]

Active Management Is Alive And Well Posted: 16 Mar 2010 10:01 PM PDT In this interview, Peter Lynch talks about why active management is likely to prosper and do better than indexing, precisely because markets have not done as well over the past decade due to the overvaluations of securities. The arrival of Active ETFs will likely bring more investors to active management by packaging the strategy in a more effective and cheaper ETF structure as compared to mutual funds. Despite years of research in favour of indexing, that suggests active management is … [visit site to read more]

US Government Sees Elevated Unemployment For ‘Extended Period’ Posted: 16 Mar 2010 09:26 PM PDT Is the White House reading Sense on Cents? While I ask that question in a self-effacing fashion, I will allow others to pass muster as to whether my commentary deserves attention in Washington. Why do I ask that question now though? I wrote this morning, “What Happened to Focus on Jobs?”: The 'talking points’ utilized by those in Washington project that our economy and markets are experiencing cyclical unemployment. I firmly believe they are wrong. Our economy and markets are … [visit site to read more]

Fed Decision Gives Traders Go Ahead To Sell US Dollar Against Other Currencies Posted: 16 Mar 2010 09:21 PM PDT On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and reiterated that interest rates would remain low for “an extended period.” In its statement, it also mentioned that inflation remains subdued, and that the weak employment situation seems to have stabilized. While this may sound rosy, the Fed did express concerns about housing and employer reluctance to increase payrolls. The tone of the statement suggests that while the Fed seems to have a plan as to how to begin … [visit site to read more]

Under The Microscope: QAI Posted: 16 Mar 2010 09:13 PM PDT The rise of ETFs has led to the democratization of many asset classes which were once reserved for the ultra-rich. While investors have quickly adapted to ETFs offering exposure to commodities and quantitative strategies, another alternative asset has also seen a recent surge in popularity. Traditionally, hedge funds have been known for their ability to deliver strong returns with low volatility and low correlations to other asset classes. These returns often come in return for big fees; hedge … [visit site to read more]

Stock Picks For Wednesday 17 March: Gigamedia, Level 3 Communications, Life Technologies Corporation Posted: 16 Mar 2010 08:50 PM PDT ( click to enlarge ) Gigamedia (NASDAQ:GIGM) looks strong enough to move forward. I’m encouraged by the fact that the stock bounced off support of the 13 day moving average yesterday and surged nearly 5% today with good volume. The stock has the potential for a strong follow through, so watch it closely on Wednesday. ( click to enlarge ) Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ:LVLT) is still facing resistance around 1.68. The technical daily chart is showing some bullish bias. On Balance … [visit site to read more]

My Scrappy Little Portfolio Posted: 16 Mar 2010 07:40 PM PDT I want to call this piece “My Scrappy Little Portfolio” but after reading it, you might decide it is “My Crappy Little Portfolio”. In a nut shell, my current portfolio is positioned rather defensively. I am short the Yen, long Treasury bonds, short equities, and long crude oil - all via various exchange traded funds. I have discussed some supporting evidence for being short the Yen, and you can read about this in the following articles: “USDJPY: It Isn’t Correlated” and “Short Yen, Long … [visit site to read more]

Video: The Day Ahead: US Producer Price Index Posted: 16 Mar 2010 07:00 PM PDT The stories, data, and stocks that may have the greatest impact during the next trading session. … [visit site to read more]

Not Just Sovereign Debt, US Junk Bonds Are Also Catastrophic Posted: 16 Mar 2010 03:30 PM PDT The easy credit era leading up to 2007 was largely financed by corporate bonds issued to come due in five to seven years. This means that in addition to issuing record US debt in 2012 to 2014, there will also be a concurrent financial reckoning day for private debt refinancing. According to The New York Times: "The United States government alone will need to borrow nearly $2 trillion in 2012, to bridge the projected budget deficit for that year and to refinance existing … [visit site to read more]

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