Extreme stock market volatility often pushes the average investor into making bad investment decisions. “Panic selling” is a common term used to describe stock market selloffs. Rarely, however, is the term “panic buying” used to portray strong, triple-digit stock market rallies, as indicated by the DJIA. Panic goes both ways – in buys and sells – which...Read More
All major market indicators fell today – the DJIA lost 3.5%, gold was down 4%, oil declined 6.5%, and the 15-51 Indicator lost 2.8%. This is what happens when amateur fiscal and monetary policies meet championship caliber threats. This is what happens when central governance treats symptoms instead of ailments. Is the world economy in recession? Of course. The world’s...Read More
Once again the Dow failed to hold onto the action zone’s midpoint, dropping 284 points or 2.5%. The 15-51 Indicator lost 1.3%, with construction, industrial, financials, and energy leading the decline. One reason the stock market sold off today was the Federal Reserve’s announcement to employ “Operation Twist” – the act of selling short term duration...Read More
There is an old saying: a problem identified is mostly resolved. It’s simply impossible to fix an unknown problem. That’s where we start. The problems with the American market are simple. It’s: over-regulated over-taxed, and over-leveraged This can be seen by: lackluster economic growth high unemployment weak currency In a nutshell, the free market has little room to operate,...Read More
“The market” is up about 9% in the past twelve months. But it doesn’t feel like it. Recent volatility makes it seem like a terrible year. Of course, most mutual funds don’t produce returns close to the DJIA. Mutual funds aren’t built for performance. They’re built to make Wall Street a lot of money. In LOSE YOUR BROKER NOT YOUR...Read More
Well, we know one thing for certain: When you raise the debt ceiling you are guaranteed to end up with more debt. Whether or not President Obama’s most recent spending bill is a good idea is not worth debate. Since 2008 the US government has spent an unprecedented amount of money to revive the economy –...Read More
The word “stimulus” has been completely dropped from today’s political vocabulary. “Jobs” is the word of the day. But wasn’t that the point all along? President Obama’s first stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, had a specific purpose – to stop unemployment from reaching 8% by investing in “shovel ready” projects....Read More
Sep 09, 2011 I know, a Bernanke-Obama tag team is enough to shake anyone’s confidence. It certainly shook mine. The Dow lost more than 300 points today, which represents a drop of 2.7%. This is the negative mojo I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. Today was no shock to me. I saw both speeches yesterday. Bernanke gave little details about the “tools”...Read More
On a day that found little good in the news, Standard & Poors delivered the biggest blow by downgrading Italy’s sovereign debt, citing “weak economic growth” and a “fragile government.” Add to this the troubles in Greece, Spain, and Portugal – not to mention France and a frustrated Germany. Europe is in big trouble right...Read More
