Disclosure: I am in full compliance with all ethics and other policies for Market Realist research analysts. I am not invested in securities that I cover on Market Realist.
The hike didn’t come about in the September 2015 meeting. This led to a fall in equities. They showed their displeasure over the delay in the rate hike.
Market demand for 13-week Treasury bills rose, led by a rise in allotted indirect bids. The percentage of indirect bids rose to 25.1% of the accepted bids, up from 21.6% a week ago.
Irrespective of how strong economic fundamentals look, investors should be careful about investing in emerging markets and other economies that are relatively unknown to them.
The Putnam Europe Equity Fund – Class A (PEUGX) fell 4.3% in 1Q16, making it a below-average performer among the 12 funds in this review. In the past one year, PEUGX has fallen 7.9%
Goldman Sachs has gone bullish on commodities. The finance major, which is the biggest commodities dealer (in sales), has advised clients to go overweight.
The two benchmark equity indices—the Nifty 50 and the S&P BSE Sensex—fell each trading day since the demonetization except for November 10 and November 22.
The demonetization that has been in effect since November 9 is expected to have a negative impact on inflation. Consumer spending activity almost stopped.
Narayana Kocherlakota, 12th president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said central banks have been able to control inflation better when left alone by the government.
If you look at the Republican Party’s stance on monetary policy in general and the Federal Reserve’s in particular, you might assume that the pace of rate hikes is going to pick up.
The possibility of a 25-basis-point rate hike in December is quite high since Donald Trump was elected president, and the markets are already pricing in a hike.
In his November Insights newsletter, Richard Bernstein stated, “It is incredible that investors have basically been wallflowers during the second longest bull market of the post-war period.”
After expressing his thoughts on the Baby Boomer generation’s having become risk-averse, Richard Bernstein moved on to the topic of the safety of “safe” investments.
After stating that the market isn’t in a low return environment, Richard Bernstein moved on to discuss the reasons cited by many for conservative asset allocation.
Even if you haven’t followed the Donald Trump campaign closely, you likely know that he was very specific in his thoughts about two countries: Mexico and China.
Though non-farm payroll additions for the last two months have been lower than the 12-month average leading up to September 2016, they’ve still exceeded 150,000 in both months.
After the release of the FOMC’s November statement, Bill Gross said that monetary policy in the United States is steadily moving toward normalization, though its pace is slow.
Treasury yields witnessed a secular rise in October. Except for yield on the one-month Treasury bill, which remained flat month-over-month, all other tenors saw a visible rise in yields.
The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment notes on its website, “Mutual funds are one of the most dynamic segments within the ESG investing space.”
Some stock indexes have taken into consideration ESG (environmental, social, and governance) criteria, applying the methods outlined in the previous article to tackle ESG issues.
A sustainable coffee effort In the previous article, we looked at industry-level and investment-level examples of how things have been on the sustainable investment front and the developments that are helping certain industries. In this article, we’ll look at a company-level example by way of Starbucks (SBUX). Starbucks employs sustainability standards called C.A.F.E. (Coffee and […]
Though it might seem that considering environmental impacts while making investments is an oddity that arouses the interest of a niche group of investors, this assumption is incorrect.
There are some important things to know when analyzing ESG issues. Unlike traditional analysis, there’s no particular outlined method for conducting ESG analysis.
Established in mid-2004, the Enhanced Analytics Initiative was aimed at integrating extra-financial issues with traditional financial analysis with a long-term view.
The onValues report on behalf of the Enhanced Analytics Initiative made several conclusions regarding the progress of its understanding of environmental, social, and governance criteria.
Some issues considered under the social criterion when evaluating a company’s products and practices are human rights, human capital management, and work conditions.
Some issues considered under the governance criterion when evaluating a company’s products and practices are executive compensation and bribery and corruption.
Some issues considered under the environmental criterion when evaluating a company’s products and practices are pollution, carbon emissions, and resource depletion.
UEPIX’s high exposure energy stocks has been extremely beneficial in 2016, especially after February 11, when crude oil prices touched a multiyear low.
The Fidelity Advisor Europe Fund – Class A (FHJUX) has been an above-average performer in YTD 2016, ranking third in the one-year period ended October 21, 2016.
There has barely been anything positive about AXEAX so far in 2016. The fund has a high portfolio turnover rate and has seen its top-invested sectors contribute negatively.
Although the industrials sector has done well for AEDAX, the remaining top three invested sectors have been quite substantial negative contributors—especially the consumer discretionary sector.
In this series, we’ll look at how 2016 has panned out for Europe-focused mutual funds so far. We’ll take an in-depth look at the portfolios of 12 funds and conduct attribution analysis to see which sectoral or stock picks helped or hurt these funds.
VPMCX counts information technology, healthcare, and industrials as its core invested sectors. These three sectors make up a combined 80% of the portfolio.
Information technology, consumer discretionary, and healthcare make up the core holdings of VAFAX. These three make up a combined 77% of the fund’s assets.
SHRAX has been a below average YTD performer. The past year until October 14 was hard on the fund. It placed dead last among the 12 peers in this review.
Information technology, consumer discretionary, and healthcare form TRBCX’s core. These top three sectors command over one-fifth apiece of total assets.
The sectoral breakdown of SHRAX is unlike any other mutual fund in this review, with healthcare as its biggest holding, commanding 35% of the portfolio.
The Harbor Capital Appreciation Fund Investor Class (HCAIX) has had a terrible 2016. It’s the second-worst performer YTD among the 12 funds in this review.
The Franklin Growth Fund Class A has done well enough YTD in 2016 to place among the top three funds among the group of 12 we’re reviewing in this series.
FDGRX’s core sectors are information technology, consumer discretionary, and healthcare. The first two sectors make up a little over 60% of the portfolio.
FBGRX’s core sectors include information technology, consumer discretionary, and healthcare. The first two sectors make up a combined 68% of the portfolio.
AMCPX’s core sectors are information technology, healthcare, consumer discretionary, and industrials, which form about one-tenth of the portfolio apiece.
Worries about Brexit’s impact on US financial markets have given way to concerns about US elections. But so far in 2016, US stocks and funds have done well.
The most visible impact of the ECB (European Central Bank) claiming that it had neither discussed extending its asset purchase program nor any tapering of it was on the euro (FXE).
Signs of bear markets After outlining why he thinks bull markets in the US are more common than investors think, Richard Bernstein went on to discuss the signs of bear markets. He suggests that the prevailing pessimism of an impending bear market is unjustified. According to him, based on historical evidence, there are three indications […]
A legitimate bull market In this series, we’ve taken a look at Richard Bernstein’s views on investors’ fear of an impending bear market. In Richard Bernstein Advisors’ October Insights newsletter, he rejects the notion that the current rise in US stocks (SPLV) (OEF) has been brought about only by the Fed’s easy monetary policy. In the […]
A bull run with legs In Richard Bernstein Advisors’ October Insights newsletter, after dismissing the belief that the Federal Reserve is to blame for stock price inflation (IWD) (VTV), Richard Bernstein moved on to explain the reason for the current bull run. Stating that “fundamentals have improved dramatically, and have been a major support to the […]
Rate cut and stocks Monetary accommodation is generally good for stocks. A cut in interest rates makes borrowing cheaper for households and businesses, pushing them to spend and invest. A rate cut is good for stocks because it allows companies to borrow money at lower interest rates and invest in new plants, machinery, or operation expansion, […]
In Richard Bernstein Advisors’ October newsletter, Richard Bernstein noted that although the bull run in US stocks is in its seventh year, investors remain afraid of equities.
The issue of the Fed’s credibility is not a new one. The effectiveness of the prolonged monetary accommodation has sparked a lot of debate in the past.
When we talk about the relationship between the US dollar and bonds and how currency movements impact bonds, we’re essentially talking about international bonds.
