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Will gold keep rising against major currencies?

By Joseph Slife
The answer, of course, is "no one knows." But the prospects for gold seem good - or, put another way, the prospects for currencies appear to be not-so good.
Mar 10,2010, 1:57PM | Email | Print | Share

It's Difficult to Make Predictions — Especially About the Future

By Joseph Slife
As we've stressed before, no one knows the future except God. Not even the best and brightest financial "experts" have a good track record for accurate predictions.
Dec 10,2009, 11:44AM | 1 comments | Email | Print | Share

We should have seen it coming

By Joseph Slife
In a column for the Wall Street Journal, the always-insightful Jeremy Seigel, a professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (and author of Stocks for the Long Run), gets to the heart of what led to the financial meltdown.
Nov 05,2009, 9:02AM | Email | Print | Share

Crash of '29 anniversary - setting the record straight

By Joseph Slife
On this 80th anniversary of the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929, I refer you to Mark's February 2008 article that corrects common misconceptions about the crash.
Oct 30,2009, 10:31AM | Email | Print | Share

"Too big to fail" is too big

By Mark Biller
Jim Jubak's latest column is a pretty convincing explanation of Why Big Banks Hate Banking. He runs through several examples (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo) showing that these companies may be involved (to varying degrees) in regular banking activities, but at least recently, they've been making most of their profits trading.
Oct 29,2009, 9:03AM | Email | Print | Share

When a 5,300% gain = a catastrophic loss

By Joseph Slife
Financial commentator Jonathan Hoenig, writing at SmartMoney.com, tells a sad (and recent) tale of how runaway inflation can destroy the value of earnings.
Oct 21,2009, 2:16PM | Email | Print | Share

Gold sets new highs

By Mark Biller
Gold soared to an all-time high of $1,045/oz yesterday, sparked by a couple of news items this morning. Both illustrate the point we've been making in recent months that the rationale for investing in gold stems from what is happening (and likely going to happen) to the dollar.
Oct 07,2009, 11:44AM | Email | Print | Share

A year ago...

By Mark Biller
Yesterday marked the unhappy anniversary of the slide into financial panic. While the financial landscape may not be in great shape today, I think most would agree that things could be a whole lot worse. In fact, I'd guess that if we had taken a reader survey 50 weeks ago, many/most probably would have expected conditions to be worse today than they actually are.
Sep 16,2009, 10:05AM | Email | Print | Share

There's good news, and there's bad news

By Mark Biller
The good news is the index of leading economic indicators is signaling that the recession is nearing its end: The index of leading indicators, which signals turning points in the economy, is rising at a rate that has accurately indicated the end of every recession since the index began to be compiled in 1959. The index was reported this week to have risen for the third consecutive month in June,...
Jul 29,2009, 10:58AM | Email | Print | Share

Even playing field?

By Mark Biller
If you read as much financial "stuff" as we do here at SMI, you quickly learn that writers in certain quarters are convinced the financial markets are rigged. Either the government is running the show, or some group of elites, or well, somebody is clearly up to something. While occasionally some good points are raised, the argument tends to get tired (and generally speaking, as a result, we don't continue to do much reading from those conspiracy-minded sources).
Jul 01,2009, 9:49AM | Email | Print | Share

Everything you ever wanted to know about mutual funds - 2009 edition

By Joseph Slife
I guess you could call me a data nerd. I like to pore over charts, graphs, and tables. And such things are abundant in the Investment Company Institute's just-released 49th edition of the Fact Book on the mutual-fund industry. (ICI is the mutual fund trade association).
Jun 11,2009, 9:24AM | Email | Print | Share

Media giving a free pass on jobs numbers

By Mark Biller
A new turn of phrase has been cropping up in recent discussions of U.S. jobs and unemployment. "Saved or created" is the new catch-phrase for the Obama team as they explain that the stimulus is doing what it is supposed to do.
Jun 10,2009, 9:28AM | Email | Print | Share

The things that aren't yet happening - and why

By Joseph Slife
This week's de facto nationalization of General Motors is part of a growing chain of government actions giving pause to business decision-makers and long-term investors.
Jun 05,2009, 9:33AM | Email | Print | Share

Banks now vs. tech in 2002

By Mark Biller
Here's an interesting Barron's article comparing the behavior of the banking sector today to that of the tech sector back in 2002. As you likely recall, tech led the bear market down from 2000-2002, whereas the banking sector has been the primary culprit in the current bear market.
May 08,2009, 9:02AM | Email | Print | Share

Current Market Behavior Typical of Bull Beginnings

By Austin Pryor
In this look at current market dynamics, Jon Markman does a good job of helping the reader understand why stocks started moving up even before there were signs of an economic turnaround, and why they have continued to do so. After beginning with a sad, but all too common, story about a friend's portfolio, he goes on to explain the current anguish of those who sold their stock holdings during the early 2009 plunge prior to the 30%+ rebound since then:
May 04,2009, 12:40PM | Email | Print | Share

Inflation Experiment

By Mark Biller
That's the summary of an excellent Bloomberg article on inflation and the recent government actions. There are two competing heavyweight theories squaring off right now. Call it Keynes vs. Friedman II.
Apr 20,2009, 12:56PM | Email | Print | Share

Humility, Hope and the Financial Crisis

By Joseph Slife
Dr. Charles W. Calomiris, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, has offered an interesting presentation on how we got into our current economic situation - and how biblically shaped virtues can help lead us out.
Apr 17,2009, 9:10AM | Email | Print | Share

Why Wall Street Will Rarely Tell You When it's Time to Sell

By Austin Pryor
It can cause your local broker to call you, pitching a stock you've never heard of. It can cause one of your holdings to swing 10 percent in a day when no news is announced. Its availability may even cause you to choose one brokerage over another. "It" is the infamous analyst research report.
Apr 09,2009, 11:12AM | Email | Print | Share

Not feeling the recession?

By Mark Biller
Do you ever watch the news coverage of the current "terrible" recession and think to yourself, "I just don't see that here"? There could be a good reason why you don't.
Apr 08,2009, 10:08AM | Email | Print | Share

Straight Talk

By Mark Biller
The past two weeks have been pretty dramatic. The S&P 500 rallied 23.5% from the low on March 6 through yesterday's close, the biggest 10-day gain since 1938.
Apr 02,2009, 11:38AM | 1 comments | Email | Print | Share

Have we been to the bottom?

By Joseph Slife
Market performance has been pretty good lately (yesterday being a strong exception), but James Picerno at The Capital Spectator isn't so sure we've seen the bottom of this bear market yet.
Apr 02,2009, 10:45AM | Email | Print | Share
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