As we head into the final quarter of 2012, it is important to understand where we have come from with the “Team Alpha” portfolio, as well as where we are headed.
We began our journey back on November 23, 2011 with the first installment of this series (<a href…
Today is the first Monday in October–the day on which, by tradition, the U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term. Gay rights advocates hope this will be the session in which the justices decide a key issue involving same-sex marriage: whether homosexual couples who are legally married under state law are entitled to the same benefits under feder…
This is a guest post by Jorg Stegemann, who has been a headhunter for more than 10 years–half that time focusing on Europe. His blog is My Job Thoughts: Career Advice From a Headhunter. His recent articles for FORBES include “Seven Things A Headhunter Won’t Tell You.”
By Tim Iacono:
For the second week in a row, precious metals prices were little changed. However, it was a stellar third quart…
The Federal Reserve’s quantitative-easing program is unpopular across most emerging markets, but the latest round should prove far less contentious than earlier ones.
AEP of the U.K.’s Telegraph shows us why Europe’s problems are now less likely to stop with Spain or even Italy. A greater disaster than I previously feared could be hoving into view. Here are some quotes from his latest article, Another domino falls as Hollande pushes France into depression (he is known for his apocaltypic wordi…
Here’s a good list of legendary investor John Templeton’s investment rules. Barry Ritholtz has more details on each rule at his site (see here), but the summary is below. It’s a nice addition to our growing list of rules and guidelines (see here). 1. Invest for maximum total real return 2. Invest — Don’t trade […]
Over the past five years, they have risen about 37%
Why investment grade corporate bonds may be riskier than they appear.
The previous rounds of quantitative easing involved the purchase of Treasuries, but not this time. So how will QE3 affect the economy?
The media outfits these days love to scrutinize bank submissions of LIBOR, looking for some sort of a pattern. The chart below from the WSJ shows how frequently banks change their rate. What are those sneaky bankers up to? Naughty SocGen, so slow in updating those rates. And why is CS constantly changing theirs? The answer of course depends on w…
Accounting rule makers are on the verge of rolling back a widely assailed provision that counterintuitively adds to U.S. banks’ profits when their debt looks riskier to investors and penalizes them when it looks safer.
Decision Point tracks each stock in a given market index and determines the location of its current price in relation to the 52-week high and 52-week low. We express this relationship using a scale of zero (at the 52-week low) to 100 (at the 52-week high). A stock in the middle of its 52-week range would get a “Rel-to-52” value of 50.
Oct 01, 2012 Blair Jensen The Downside Hedge Twitter Sentiment Indicator for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) continued to show relatively good strength again last week. Two weeks of downward price movement has only brought smoothed sentiment back to the trend line we drew near the beginning of September. Price on SPX is back to the same level as…
By Rom Badilla, CFA October 1, 2012 Economic growth appears uncertain as income growth for the U.S. remains weak leading to individuals dipping into savings. The U.S. Department of Commerce released a report showing that Personal Income for August increased by just 0.1%. In addition, […]
Via Minxin Pei of The Diplomat,
Last Friday’s announcement in Beijing that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will convene its 18th congress on November 8 has brought much relief to those concerned that political scandals and power struggle at the very top of the Chinese government have derailed the once-in-a-decade leadership transition. …
Asian stock markets were lower on Monday though a firmer dollar against the Japanese yen helped cap losses in Tokyo. The Nikkei fell 0.8%.
By Brad Thomas:
The upcoming presidential election is shining a spotlight on REITs as 2012 draws to a close. One of the biggest concerns for high net worth individuals and their advisors is the scheduled lapse of the George W. Bush tax cuts. If these cuts expire in 2013, ma…
Howard Ward of Gamco Investors and Adam Parker of Morgan Stanley assess the Federal Reserve’s latest effort to boost the economy.
As we discussed earlier, the French budget can be summed up as state spending will be frozen (not cut), tax and social contribution increases for households, and companies will see approximately 8% of their current after-tax profits vacuumed up by the government. But it is high-income earners that face a sharp adjustment. On the household side,…
Diversified Asset Allocation Portfolios For Your Plans
| Vanguard ETF: | 10%* |  |
| Diversified Core: | 11%* | |
| Six Core Asset ETFs: | 10%* | |
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