Archive for June, 2009
June 30th, 2009
(Ted Schwartz) - The best explanation of the forces that are at work in markets comes not from traditional economists but from game theorists. In Mark Buchanan's book, Ubiquity, Why Catastrophes Happen, he examines a wide array of occurrences using theoretical physics.
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Tags: array, attempts, catastrophes, economists, efficient market, fundamentalists, game theorists, mark buchanan, market fluctuations, michele, motivator, new economy, occurrences, optimist, optimists, pessimist, pessimists, risk aversion, theoretical physics, ubiquity
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| Posted in News and Opinion |
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June 30th, 2009
(Lee Siler) - As we get ready to end the best performing quarter since 1998, investors look forward to the start of earnings season. The S&P 500 soared more than 16% since the start of the 2nd quarter. This was the best showing since a 21% jump we saw in the 4th quarter of 1998. However, year-to-date it's a much different story. The disastrous start to the trading year has barely put the S&P 500 in the black. As of yesterday, the S&P was up 2.6%, much better than the Dow Jones, but much less than the Nasdaq. Clearly the tech sector led us from the depths of hell on March 8th.
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June 25th, 2009
(Joe Lyons) - Roth retirement plans are one of the best wealth creation tools available. They are also one of the most underutilized. Simply stated, Roth's are accounts that are funded with after-tax money, which can grow tax-free as long as the account exists. The contribution limits are the same as for pre-tax accounts.
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Tags: 403b, contribution limits, creation tools, current federal deficit, filers, heirs, hurdle, income investments, lifetime contributions, marginal tax rate, minimum distributions, roth 401k, roth conversion, roth ira, roth retirement plans, savings tool, tax accounts, tax money, term equity, wealth creation
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| Posted in News and Opinion, Retirement |
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June 25th, 2009
(Lee Siler) - As the market continued to lack direction, the Federal Reserve announced that interest rates would be left alone for the foreseeable future. With the economy still at risk of a more significant downturn, monetary policy will remain status quot.
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Tags: commerce department, current market, downside, downturn, economic data, economists, economy, federal reserve, first quarter, foreseeable future, gross domestic product, interest rates, jobless claims, labor department, monetary policy, pace, risk, stocks, unemployment rate
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| Posted in News and Opinion |
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June 24th, 2009
(Lee Siler) - Stocks traded flat with a downward bias, while the Fed concludes its 2-day meeting today. Wall Street will be looking for any signal from the Fed with regards to the fate of interest rates. Obviously, rates are at historic lows, but as the economy tries to bottom there will be a need to tighten monetary policy. However, the question is when? Many economists think the Fed will have to start raising rates towards the end of the year to try and head off inflation. Keep in mind that the Fed Funds target rate is 0.00%-0.25%. That leaves a lot of room to ratchet up rates over the next several months.
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Tags: abbott labs, abt, bias, bristol myers, bristol myers squibb, dividend, economists, fate, fed funds target rate, few days, healthcare group, inflation, interest rates, lows, merck, monetary policy, pipeline, rally, stocks, Wall Street
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| Posted in News and Opinion |
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June 23rd, 2009
(Anthony Williams) - If you mention risk in today's tumultuous market climate, most people probably think of their rapidly shrinking investment accounts. But in reality, investment risk takes many forms, and each can affect how you pursue your financial goals. The key to dealing with investment risk is to learn how to manage it - with help from your financial advisor.
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Tags: bond issuer, bond prices, conservative investments, credit risk, different kinds, financial goals, fixed income investments, glossary of financial terms, inflation risk, interest rate risk, investment accounts, investment risk, market climate, market risk, money market instruments, purchasing power, rate of inflation, rising interest rates, risk risk, term investments
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| Posted in Money Manager 101 |
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June 23rd, 2009
(Lee Siler) - Markets got wacked yesterday, as the economic outlook for 2009 and 2010 was grimmer than initially expected. The World Bank, a government funded lender to poor countries, said the global economy will contract 2.9% this year. That's much worse than the 1.7% previous projected. The World Bank also cut its 2010 outlook to 2% growth versus its previous forecast of 2.3% for 2010. Also in the news, which shouldn't be a surprise, the government announced that they see unemployment getting to 10%. This was widely predicted, but finally confirmed.
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Tags: cash position, downside protection, economic outlook, etf, faz, global economy, good time, momentum, monster rally, morning rally, no doubt, poor countries, profits, qid, qqqq, stock futures, stocks, ugly head, unemployment, world bank
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| Posted in News and Opinion |
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June 22nd, 2009
(Lee Siler) - The market suffered its first loss in five weeks and the pullback is likely to continue this morning. Many traders had been anticipating some sort of correction, me included, but late second quarter window dressing maybe giving us a false sense of security. Keep in mind, many investors missed the big move since March and now there trying to catch up before the second quarter ends.
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June 18th, 2009
(Lee Siler) - The market continues its sluggish trade, as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 close lower. The Nasdaq did manage to trade higher by 0.66%, as tech stocks tried to stabilize. However, the NYSE had another distribution day, which makes it the third session in a row. This leads me to believe that this correction is not over yet, which raises the markets risk level.
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June 17th, 2009
(Lee Siler) - Stocks continued their sell-off, as trading volume rises again. There is now some clear distribution going on in the major averages. Over the past two days we've seen the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 drop well over 3%. Even the leading stocks and sectors are starting to rollover.
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