equities

One cannot expect double digit returns from the U.S. market over the medium term as there are significant headwinds impeding that from high P/E ratios, reversion to the mean, consumer price inflation, credit deflation, high debt, to a…

Here are some charts from the latest issue of Barron's. They have a readable article on bear markets (for those of you subscribed to it) as the Dow was down over 20% last week. That's supposed to mark the beginning of a bear market as the…

The tenor was downbeat at a panel put together by Pensions and Investments online that included well-known Boson-based investor Jeremy Grantham. Grantham is on record as being a sceptic of the current investment climate and sees the rally…

from Bloomberg News: Ambac Financial Group Inc., the world's second-biggest bond insurer, stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange in a ``subpenny halt'' after its share price fell as low as $1.04. Ambac declined 3 cents, or 2.5…

I am firmly in the deflation camp. I worry about inflation over the short-term, but I still think the long-term threat to the global economy is deflation because asset price deflation will usher in deflationary forces. Nevertheless, there…

Bear markets are not an orgy of pain with indices going straight down. Along the way, there are always brief rallies which bring optimism that the worst is over.

In this weeks Barron's, Louise Yamada writes that financials in the U.S. have not fallen nearly enough in respect to their meteoric rise in the U.S. indices. She predicts further pain in the sector to where they represent less than a…

The Fed has lost all credibility in the markets. On Wednesday, Ben Bernanke was unable to put his money where his mouth is. Earlier, he jawboned on inflation, trying to match the BoE and the ECB in rhetoric, but his actions speak louder…

Wow! I've heard of multi-year lows, but a 53-year low. That's painful. Look, let's not beat around the bush here. GM is in big trouble. They sell many products that people don't want anymore (gas guzzlers), their growth engine is…

Wow! That was an exciting, but stomach churning day in the markets. The Dow was way down, 358 points. Oil soared to a new high over $140 a barrel. The Euro hit a record against the yen. The TED spread is rising. Did I miss anything?…