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One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the Spring.
Aldo Leopold Categories
Tag Archives: stocks
2 years after market low, the little guy is back
As a historic bull market reaches its second birthday, everyday investors are piling back into stocks, finally ready for more risk and hoping the rally has further to go.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has almost doubled since March 9, 2009, when it hit a 12-year low after the financial crisis. And the Dow Jones industrials are back above 12,000, about 2,000 points shy of their all-time high.
Little-guy investors appear to be on board. Since the beginning of the year, investors have put $24.2 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds, according to the Investment Company Institute. They withdrew $96.7 billion in 2010. Read More
Nasdaq nears 10-year high; should you be nervous?
The Nasdaq finished within 25 points of its highest level in a decade Friday, February 18, reminding investors of a time many would rather forget: The bursting of the dot-com bubble.
Today, tech is hot again. Facebook — which hasn’t even gone public yet — is worth some $50 billion. Online content company Demand Media rose 33 percent on the day of its initial public offering last month. The Nasdaq composite index closed Friday at 2,834, still only a little more than half its all-time closing high of 5,049 in March 2000. But the index of mostly tech stocks is up 26 percent over the past 12 months. Read More
How overseas inflation could hurt investors
Inflation isn’t hitting your wallet hard, but it is lurking in your stock portfolio.
Core inflation in the U.S. is 0.8 percent, well below the 4 percent rate that starts to worry economists. Though food costs are rising, the overall inflation rate is expected to hold steady due to stagnant real estate prices. Read More
Can computer programs invest better than humans?
Computers make managing money easier. They can remind you when a bill is due, and help you stick to a budget.
With investing, however, emotion often trumps automation. Many exited the stock market in late 2008 when it seemed the Dow might never stop falling. Well, the market roared back, and many anxious mutual fund investors missed out. Now they may be realizing they need a more disciplined approach. Read More
AP survey: Outlook for 2011 economy is brightening
Employers will hire more workers this year, and the economy will grow faster than envisioned three months ago, according to an Associated Press survey that found growing optimism among leading economists. But unemployment will stay chronically high — nearly 9 percent by year’s end, the latest quarterly AP Economy Survey shows. A majority of economists say it will be 2016 or later before unemployment drops to a historically normal rate of around 5 percent Read More
Investors’ return to US stocks could be too late
Investors are finally inching back into the stock market. But are they too late?
While millions sought refuge in traditionally stable bonds over the past two years, they missed a more than 90 percent rally in stocks. Suddenly bonds don’t look so safe, and some of the $11 trillion that Americans have parked in mutual funds is shifting back to stocks.
After putting more than $570 billion into bonds over the past two years, mutual fund investors reversed course last fall Read More
6 things dividend investors need to know in 2011
Glance at 2010 returns and it’s easy to see why mutual fund investors might be tempted to chase the stock market’s hot spots.
Thinking small paid off big last year. Funds specializing in stocks of smaller companies gained an average 23 percent, compared with 13.6 percent for large-cap funds, according to Lipper Inc. But avoiding those big stocks could mean missing out on one of this year’s best opportunities. There’s growing potential in dividends, and they’re more likely to be paid by larger companies. That’s because smaller companies generally reinvest profits in expanding… Read More
Fund investors begin slowly embracing US stocks
It appears investors are beginning to get comfortable with risk again. Not only are they pulling money out of bond mutual funds at the fastest pace in two years, but they’re slowly starting to embrace stocks again.
The shift in sentiment comes as positive economic news and robust corporate earnings lift stocks, which have risen 20 percent since the start of September.
Prices of bonds, typically less risky than stocks, are heading in the opposite direction. A broad measure of the bond market, the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond index, is down nearly 3 percent since early November… Read More
Fund investors continue choosing bonds over stocks
Mutual fund investors continued to put their money into bond investments rather than U.S. stocks last month, despite the market’s recent gains.
But that distaste for stocks stayed at home, as U.S. investors added money to overseas stock funds.
Bond funds attracted more than $22 billion in net cash flow during October, while a net of nearly $2.6 billion flowed out of U.S. stock… Read More
How the new Congress could affect stocks in 2011
Next year will be a year unlike any other for the stock market.
The Republican takeover of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 2, means Wall Street will be contending with three situations in 2011 that drive stock prices . . . read more Read More
Key gauge says stocks are dirt cheap now
As of August 29, 2010, with the market down three weeks in a row, investors are understandably grim. But there is a silver lining: Stocks are looking almost as cheap as last year when prices hit 12-year lows — at least according to Wall Street analysts.
It was easy to miss the development amid news of falling home sales, a drooping dollar and sluggish orders for big-ticket goods. But stocks in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index now trade at just 11.7 times analyst estimates of operating earnings for the coming year. That is one of the lowest — read cheapest — levels for this key figure . . . read more Read More
Big investors go for gold, bonds
The smart money has moved away from stocks. So is the era of stock investing over?
It’s too early to tell, but one thing is certain: “Money goes where it is treated best, and that hasn’t been in stocks,” says Wade Slome, who advises high net-worth investors… Read More
Profits are so last quarter: Wall St. eyes revenue
Even in a tough economy, increasing profits can be easy: Just cut costs enough and the bottom line keeps improving. But companies can only do that for so long.
Now Wall Street wants evidence that they’re actually pulling in more money . . . read more Read More
Gloomy investors ignore plump profits, dump stocks
Profit is so boring.
That’s one way to characterize investors’ suddenly blase view of Corporate America’s single most important figure. Earnings gushed last week like oil from the ruptured BP well and were greeted like the same gooey mess…. Read More
Stock and job woes take toll on Americans’ mood
So much for optimism. A dramatic drop in consumer confidence sent stocks plunging Tuesday, June 29, and left a key index at its lowest level of the year, heightening fears that the economic recovery is stalling.
The nation is in no mood to spend its way back to growth, but businesses have been . . . read more Read More
