Lowest Mortgage Rates in a Lifetime
The three decade decline in mortgage rates is now at a trough. The Federal Reserve program to support the mortgage market ends today. If you haven’t refinanced your mortgage what are you waiting for? You may never see mortgage rates this low again in your lifetime. Read More →
Here’s the $64,000 Question
The current bull market in stocks is now 12 months old. The S&P 500 has risen 74% since the March 2009 lows. After a mini-correction to start 2010, investors have aggressively bid up shares, driving the S&P 500 up 11% over the last two months to a new 52-week high. Many institutional investors... Read the full story
Euro Breaks Through Key Support
Euro breaks through key support level. Next support level will be reached somewhere between $1.25 and $1.30. A weaker euro lessens the probability of an export-led recovery in the U.S. Read More →
Troubling news on Muni Bonds and China
The $2 Trillion Hole – Barron’s “Some 80% of these public employees are beneficiaries of defined-benefit plans under which monthly pension payments are guaranteed, no matter how stocks and other volatile assets backing the retirement plans perform. In contrast, most of the taxpayers footing the... Read the full story
A Miracle Metal
Nature’s supply of the element thorium is virtually unlimited. This silvery-white metal is mildly radioactive and wouldn’t do you much harm if you carried a piece around in your glove compartment. A recent well-done technical paper in Wired estimates that a liquid fluoride thorium (LFT) reactor... Read the full story
Mutual Fund Cash
Cash levels as a percentage of total assets in stock mutual funds is bordering on an all-time low. When was that low hit? It was July 2007 – three months prior to the last bull market high. The dry powder in stock mutual funds that helped fuel a 72% rise in the S&P 500 from the March 2009 lows... Read the full story
Commodities Investment
Since 2005, investment in commodities futures funds has increased over 200% to an estimated $250 billion. Some of the biggest inflows to commodities futures funds have been from institutional investors—pensions, endowments, and foundations. Not by mistake, the institutional crowd moved into commodities... Read the full story
A Proposal 83% of Americans Support
March 11, 2010 Caroline Baum writes that 83% of Americans would support term limits in the House and Senate. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina has introduced a “Term Limits for All” constitutional amendment. His amendment would limit every House member to three terms and every senator to two.www.ustl.org. The... Read the full story
Truly Astonishing Debt Accumulation
Federal spending is at the highest level since WII. In five years, the national debt has soared to $11.9 trillion from $7.3 trillion, an increase that equals all the debt accumulated between President George Washington and President Clinton. Bush & Obama take only five years to run-up the national... Read the full story
Wall Street’s Dirty Secret
March 5, 2010 The New York Times ran a must-read article this week on the important differences between brokers and investment advisors. As I have written in the past, the difference between brokers, or self-labeled “financial advisors” who work for big brokerage houses, and registered investment... Read the full story
