I’ve noticed lately that inflation continues to “surprise” to the downside, to a small degree here in the US but mainly overseas (notably Europe, Australia and Canada), creating expectations of further monetary easing. This is leaving many people who have been calling for hyperinflation and the collapse of fiat currencies scratching their heads. They say…
Market Round Up
Stocks & the Japanese yen I’ve had my eye on the Japanese yen the past few days. For years, the yen has been at the center of the “carry trade,” where traders will borrow in yen at near zero interest rates to leverage their investment in markets that are moving higher – like stocks. The…
Emerging Markets, China & Currencies
I lightened up on Emerging Markets (EM) a little this week. Many of the EM markets took off to the upside after Bernanke announced no change to the current Quantitative Easing program. However, I see the current rally as just another cyclical blip that will quickly lose steam. At the heart of the issue remains…
The Little Market That Could…
This stock market continues to chug along, like the little engine that could. This has been the most resilient market since the 1990’s, showing just how much money is trying to work its way into stocks. This is forcing people to buy on the shallowest of dips. The market action this week tells me there’s…
Why the Dow Will Go Up Forever
Today, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that they’re swapping out three companies from the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJIA) – “The Dow” that everyone talks about so often when referring to the US stock market. The DJIA is an index of only 30 stocks. It’s price weighted meaning a $50 stock has a larger…
Stock Market Update (Video) – Stocks Losing Momentum
A quick video this week looking at the US stock market and how the past may give us some clues as to what lies ahead: I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend! -Nick
US-Based Multinational Companies & the Dollar
Yesterday Walmart reported a $680 million dollar hit to sales because of currency fluctuations. Walmart doesn’t hedge currency risk, doing business in other countries in their local currency and simply converting it back into US dollars when calculating quarterly earnings. For the last decade plus, it was all about companies that were seeing revenue boosts…
Summer Doldrums
Summer tends to be a pretty quiet time for the stock market and the correction over the past month has fit the bill. These are the times you use to catch up on your research so I’ve spent the past few weeks going through quarterly earnings calls, assessing which countries I feel are positioned well,…