Avoid These Securities
February 26, 2010 One sector of the financial markets that is greatly underpricing risk today is municipal bonds. State and local governments are facing extraordinary budget pressure. The recession has eviscerated tax revenues, but spending requirements have not dropped. During the last fiscal year,... Read the full story
The Real POP in Investment Returns
Putnam Investments’ full-page colored advertisement in this week’s WSJ was hard to miss—the Putnam marketing team made sure of that. In the ad, they tout their suite of Absolute Return Funds, which seek to do well in any type of market environment, up or down. As is often the case, and certainly... Read the full story
Bad News for Small Business
In 2009, the number of problem banks increased nearly 200%. Problem banks now hold $400 billion in bank assets. Most of these problem institutions are regional and community lenders. The same banks that dominate in small business and commercial real estate lending. A continued rise in problem banks... Read the full story
Canadian Banks and a Chinese Bubble
This is the first installment of Clippings, a new feature from Youngresearch.com. In Clippings we’ll periodically post articles on markets, economics, finance, investments, and anything else we find of interest. What U.S. Banks Can Learn from Canada By Derek DeCloet – BusinessWeek “Canadian... Read the full story
A Snapshot of the Economy
February 19, 2010The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI) came out this week. The LEI increased 0.3% from December. Each month when the Conference Board releases the leading, coincident, and lagging indicators, my staff sends me an updated table of the numbers (see below). I use the table to... Read the full story
The U-Shaped Recovery?
Historically, housing recoveries follow a V-shaped trajectory. Even with significant government support, the current housing recovery, appears to be taking more of a U-shaped path. A healthy skepticism on the pace of a housing recovery remains warranted. Read More →
Commodities Demand
Did you know that China accounts for close to 40% of the consumption of aluminum, copper, lead, tin, zinc, and nickel? China is by far the most important consumer of industrial metals. China is also a large consumer of energy and agricultural commodities. If you want to know what the outlook for commodities... Read the full story
A Grave Threat
February 12, 2010 Olivier Blanchard, the IMF’s top economist, is calling for a doubling or tripling in the rate of inflation. He wants central bankers to raise their inflation targets to 4%-6% from an average of 2% today. What would possess anyone to recommend more inflation? Mr. Blanchard thinks... Read the full story
Pop Quiz
You’re right if you guessed that the largest stock fund is an exchange-traded fund (ETF), a fact I always find somewhat surprising when studying the list of the largest stock funds in The WSJ’s monthly fund report. The one at the top of the list is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), with $91.11 billion... Read the full story
Productivity Growth
Here is why the U.S. will lead the Euro Area in an economic recovery. Higher productivity growth in the U.S. will allow American firms to ramp up employment sooner than their European counterparts. Read More →
