Here are some wild stats about the current rally in the S&P 500 in 2013 which brings the gains to 17%+: Of the twenty weeks this year, just four have been negative weeks.   Of the four negative weeks just one has included a loss over 2%. Of the four negative weeks just two of them included losses over 1%. [...]

Long week….I’m fresh out of brain cells this morning so have at it.  You can use this post to ask me anything, sling mud at me, talk amongst yourselves, pass along your wisdom, throw out a link worth reading or whatever you want.  And if you’ve got better things to do then have a great weekend and try to focus [...]

Why the credit crunch in European countries? Because this deleveraging was accelerated by the fateful decision taken by the European Banking Association of imposing European banks to reach a Core Tier 1 capital ratio of 9% by June 2012. It has not only broken the credit transmission mechanism to the real economy in Europe but caused a credit crunch as well.

This week’s rail traffic reading showed modest improvement over recent weeks, but the longer-term trend remains negative.  Intermodal traffic was up 3.9% this week which was an improvement over last week’s reading of 2.8%.  The data, however, continues to soften on a rolling 3 month basis with the latest reading coming in at 3%.  That’s the lowest level since January. [...]

I really like this commentary by Robert Seawright who puts the FOBOR (FOrced Buyers Of Risk) concept into the proper perspective: “In a no-yield world, many perceive themselves as ”forced buyers of risk” (FOBOR). By way of example, the Financial Times reported the following note from BofA Merrill Lynch: In a world of zero rates, where $19.4 trillion of government bonds (that’s 48% of the [...]

Not good news….

Here’s my (very tentative) listing of lessons and guideposts, a baker’s dozen in total, that we would all do well to abide by and internalize as we try to navigate the investment process.

The news headlines out of Europe continue to surprise to the downside. Especially the euro area is struggling across the board, as growth in most countries stagnates.

I spend much of my days trying to coach clients and teach them how to understand the role that their portfolio plays in their lives.  I try to teach them important lessons about money, economics and finance that go largely untaught in school and most of Wall Street doesn’t really want you to understand.  For instance, I try to teach [...]