European Stocks European stocks and US stocks typically move with a fairly high correlation but they’ve diverged quite a bit over the past 3 years as both the euro currency and British pound have depreciated significantly against the US dollar. I’m thinking we’ll likely see this gap close over the next year so I started…
Are New Opportunities on the Horizon?
I find it fascinating that the stock market is still so fixated on stimulus (more quantitative easing), which says a lot about the nature of the global economy. Stocks posted a pretty strong rally yesterday after the European Central Bank (ECB) hinted at increasing their QE program. Then, this morning, the futures were driven even…
The Future of Europe
I haven’t chimed in with my two cents on Greece yet but I figured you might be wondering what I think, and more importantly, how it might affect investment markets. It’s no secret that I’ve been pretty critical of the Eurozone the past few years. A monetary union without a fiscal union just cannot work…
Why the Volatility is only just Beginning
Tomorrow morning the European Central Bank (ECB) will make an announcement on monetary policy and will most likely announce the beginning of their own Quantitative Easing. I was a bit skeptical of this until last week when the European Court of Justice made it now legal for the ECB to engage in Quantitative Easing and…
Why there is Confusion in the Markets Right Now
Stocks have had a pretty bumpy ride over the last three weeks, with the S&P 500 falling exactly 10% from the September 19th high. The S&P 500 cash index, which is what you see quoted on TV and in the paper, fell almost 9.9% but the S&P 500 futures fell exactly 10.0% and turned on…
What’s Been Catching My Eye Lately
Rollover of After-Tax 401(k) Dollars to a Roth IRA Last week the IRS finally produced a ruling on whether or not you’re able to rollover after-tax dollars in a 401(k) to a Roth IRA tax-free, which is different from actually having a separate Roth 401(k) account available. The IRS has ruled that after-tax and pre-tax…
Inflation or Deflation?
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…
Sovereign Debt Crisis
There have been some interesting developments over the past week that give me additional conviction that the next crisis the investment markets face will be a sovereign debt crisis (government bonds). We’ve already seen the early stages in Europe when yields in Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain spiked higher. Now we have bond yields…