Tag Archive: bond markets

  1. The Markets

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    Happy birthday United States of America!

    U.S. stock markets gave Americans plenty of reason to celebrate over the 4th July weekend. The Dow Jones Industrials Average earned ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ from investors and pundits as it shot above 17,000 last week (a significant gain from March 2009 when it traded in the mid-6,000 range). Barron’s pointed out the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was no slouch either having closed “above its 200-day trading average for more than 400 consecutive trading days, the second longest streak in the last 50 years.” (more…)

  2. The Markets

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    It is a peculiar period in the stock markets at the moment.  Valuations in equities have been generally positive, bond markets seem to have been positive and with even Spanish debt at a lower yield than the US, the measures of volatility in trading seem to be at near record low levels. Something strange is going on.  (more…)

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    “Gonna take a sentimental journey…Gonna set my heart at ease…Gonna make a sentimental journey…To renew old memories.” If you’re a fan of Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra, then you probably recognise these lyrics. Although we rarely think of them as such, the ups and downs of stock and bond markets are sentimental journeys. They reflect the thoughts and attitudes of investors toward particular companies, investments, and markets. Investopedia explains it like this: (more…)

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    Was it a stutter step or have markets lost their balance? 

    Anybody who knows football can tell you a lot goes into every play. Strategy, practice, game review, and preparation all affect outcomes, as do decisions and execution during games. Many, many factors influence gains and losses on the field. Similarly, numerous issues affect the performance of stock and bond markets – a fact that became abundantly clear when pundits tried to explain last week’s market downturn. (more…)

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    Really?! 

    Okay. Okay. If you’ve been trekking through Siberia or Patagonia for about a year, then maybe it surprised you to hear the minutes from the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting showed it expects to begin tapering Quantitative Easing (QE) in the coming months. 

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    The third quarter of 2013 held plenty of mayhem and emotion. It began with an overthrow of Egypt’s democratically-elected government and ended with the United States government at risk of defaulting on Treasury and government obligations. In between:

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    If it’s not stocks, it’s bonds! 

    In a turnaround worthy of Bruce Willis in a ‘Die Hard’ movie, expectations for second quarter’s corporate earnings growth soared from below expectations, on average, in the previous week to beating expectations last week. Earnings growth estimates shot up to 4.1 percent which was a significant change from last week’s 2.8 percent. Of the companies that have reported so far, more than one-half have performed better than expected – an improvement on the last four quarters’ performance. 

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