Well, for one thing, the price is up. Conversely, the yield is down. As of 9:30 PM CDT, 5/8/14 the yield stood at 2.61%, down from 3% at the end of 2013. This, according to the media wonks and pundits, was not supposed to happen. Rates were supposed to go up as people fled the…
Tag: marketwatch
Session 105–It’s Demographics, Stupid!
It’s Friday May 2, 2014 and we get good news on the employment front. The unemployment rate has dropped to 6.3% from 6.7%…the lowest since the fall of 2008. The bad news is that one of the reasons for this precipitous drop is that there was a big jump in the number of people who…
Session 103–“Investors double down on dumb idea”
Before I decipher my title, I need to give well-deserved credit where credit is due. As you know kortsessions.com is all about going after the media on the fear, distrust and misinformation that it continually sows. Sometimes, however, they get it right. One columnist, who seems to pop up often on the right side (as…
Session 95–Keep it simple stupid
These four words, often referred to as the “KISS Theory,” should be a mantra for many investors who have neither the skills nor time to manage their own investments. I have a very credible ally in this thought process, Warren Buffett, who is advising his own heirs to “Keep it simple…”, to invest their inheritance…
Session 93–“10 things the gun industry won’t tell you”
Interestingly, this was the “Number 1″ searched article in this morning’s (March 8, 2014) edition of MarketWatch.com, followed closely by: 2. ” 7 signs we are near a market top” 3. “How to prepare for the next bear market” The banner headline was: “How the S&P 500 gets to 2500 next year” What struck me the most…
Session 90-In StockMarket Land, the difference between apples and oranges is often hard to discern
“Markets flooded with cash, should Fed prep to stamp out risk(Reuters via CNBC 2/21/2014)?” First of all, this is a stupid question as their mandate deals with unemployment and inflation. They are only the ‘risk police’ when it comes to risk of inflation. They can warn about “irrational exuberance”, but it is not their job…
Session 87–One Foot Out the Door, One Finger on the Panic Button
I think this describes the mindset of many market participants, suspicious of how far we’ve come since the crash of 2008. The ghost of that era still haunts investors; so much so, many cut their equity holdings dramatically or totally avoided stocks (sideline money=buying power). The recent mini-correction has reinforced this skepticism and the media…
Session 75–“Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
“Double, double toil and trouble” is an apt descriptor of what the average hedge fund manager has been going through the past couple of years. To be hedged in a roaring bull market is indeed a witches’ curse. According to the Business Insider the average hedge fund was up 6% the first nine months of…
Session 74–“Buying Stocks at Record Highs: Will You Be Sorry?”
Did you see this front page story in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal (11/23/2013)? The article posits: “…whether stocks are overvalued or fairly valued isn’t the question investors should be asking. Instead, what you need to answer is this: how much can I stand to lose before I bail out?” This is very cautionary stuff, considering the fact…