Back in March I did a comprehensive overview of the financial markets that looked at the technical setups across multiple asset classes. Fast forward five months and many trends have continued to play out with dogged determination. Nevertheless, reviewing fresh data can help us pinpoint key areas that represent opportunities or those that should be avoided. Stocks […]
Author Archives: seoblog
The impact from price deflation in commodity-linked industries has continued its path of destruction in 2015. Despite flat performance in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), many niche ETFs driven by energy, precious metals, and other natural resources have fallen by the wayside. For instance, plunging gold prices have dragged down the Market Vectors Gold […]
Today marked the first time the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) broke below its 200-day moving average in 2015. We came close in early July, but managed to escape a full-fledged dip below the long-term trend line. Nevertheless, it is decision time for trend followers that use this metric as a guidepost for buy and sell triggers. […]
As we find ourselves in the seasonally weakest time of the year, most investors are hoping to see 2015 come to a close with at least a marginal gain in risk assets. Yet, for closed end fund (CEF) investors it’s been a tough pill to swallow after such vigorous upside momentum during the first half of […]
This week I took a few days off to spend time in Las Vegas with my wife on a mini vacation to unwind from our hectic schedules. The short time away allowed us to decompress from long work days, raising two kids (plus a chocolate lab), and keeping the house in one piece. I will […]
The volatility in interest rates this year has been particularly troublesome for fixed-income investors. Much of the jump in long-term Treasury bond yields has been due to the quicker than expected improvement in the labor market, thereby putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to begin tapering its asset purchase programs in 2013. The unrelenting rise […]
Written by David Fabian, September 13th, 2013 The quest for ETF providers to offer the lowest fees and total expenses is without a doubt beneficial for index investors. Generally this involves dropping the expense ratios on competing ETFs to rock bottom levels in order to attract assets and attention to their funds. On another front, […]
Yesterday the Federal Reserve gave the market exactly what it wanted by electing to forgo tapering its asset purchase program in favor of continued quantitative easing. This sent stocks, bonds, and commodities soaring as the headline was quickly absorbed by the investing public. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) quickly climbed to new all-time highs, […]
The looming Fed meeting on Wednesday has many market watchers on the edge of their seat waiting to see what happens with the outcome of the taper debate. Some are calling for a big reduction in the asset purchase programs, while others are forecasting a more modest slowdown. The final decision will ultimately play a […]
We all know the market loves clarity, and we got a little dose of that this week when Larry Summers withdrew his candidacy for the Federal Reserve chairperson role in 2014. This sent both stocks and bonds soaring higher on Monday as both markets are digesting the potential for further transparency and guidance in the […]