Financials

Price patterns are trends that occur in stock charts. The charts are used in technical analysis. The pattern forms recognizable shapes. Price patterns are used to forecast the prices.

Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in a range of communications and entertainment businesses. Recently, the company completed the previously announced spin-off of its cable business, Liberty Broadband.

OTPP added a new position in XPO Logistics Inc. (XPO) during the third quarter that ended in September. The position accounted for 0.46% of the fund’s total portfolio.

Given the declining competitiveness of its commodity exports, Brazil’s economy is attempting to diversify away from its economic model.

The FOMC is made up of hawks and doves, and their balance could affect future policy. Investors who follow the Fed need be able to tell the differences.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s latest issue on January 29, the floating rate note (or FRN) will fulfill two investor needs: participating in anticipated future interest rates increases and protecting principal against default.

On January 29, 2014, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a new class of security: the floating rate note (or FRN). This is the first new security introduced by the Treasury since 1997.

According to the Securities Industry and Financial Market Association, SIFMA, the total U.S. fixed income market size is about $38.6 trillion.

Credit rating measures the credit-worthiness of a debtor with respect to its financial and operational stability. Rating agencies such as Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s specialize in rating credit to government agencies and corporates.

Leveraged loans (BKLN) are almost always secured or backed by a specific pledged asset or some form collateral. On the other hand, high yield bonds (JNK) may be secured or unsecured.

Another item that differentiates leveraged loans from high yield bonds is “covenants,” or the financial health metrics that issuers must adhere to.

Default rate is a key metric of credit risk and is defined as the risk that the counterparty will default on its financial obligations.

A lower credit rating means higher risk, and therefore, higher yield as investors look for the premium to take the risk and vice versa.

The group spoke about how these companies and India could benefit from investment flow into the country. Modi sought investment pledges from many of these CEOs, who were impressed with what India had to offer.

A ratings upgrade or downgrade has a direct impact on fixed income yields, and therefore directly affects bond prices.

E-commerce represented approximately 1% of total sales in fiscal 2013, 4% in fiscal year 2014, 9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2015, and 9.7% in the second quarter of fiscal 2015.

The company “saw improvement in net sales trends over the course of the quarter as inventory levels recovered and the fall flooring season began.” But the shares are down 49% in the year to date.

CymaBay Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company formerly known as Metabolex. It develops therapies to treat metabolic and rare diseases with high unmet need.

Gold certainly can be an inflation hedge, and it has worked in the past. Obviously, one of the reasons gold has been weak of late is that people are becoming less concerned about inflation.

Kullman’s annual letter to DuPont shareholders for 2013 said that the company made acquisitions that added “scientific expertise and access to new markets.”

This week is full of indicators, with most of them being measures of national-level economic activity.

Historically, a flatter yield curve had an adverse impact on the financial institutions’ returns. It lowered their net interest margins. The Fed continues to stress an accommodative monetary policy. The policy and strong overseas demand have kept yields low at the long end of the curve. As a result, the difference between 30-year and five-year Treasury yields fell to 154 basis points on September 5, 2014.

As I write in my new weekly commentary, over the past two weeks, several polls have suggested a realistic chance that the people of Scotland will vote for independence in this week’s referendum.

The voting result of the Scottish Referendum, due September 18, will have a direct bearing on Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the 28-member European Union as a whole.

U.S. investment-grade bonds can provide investors with a safe and steady income stream. They’re issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and corporates. The issuers have a very high ability to service the debt issued. There’s little risk of default.

The purpose of Treasury auctions is to obtain financing from markets at the most competitive cost. The yield on these securities is determined through a public auction process. These yields affect the secondary market for U.S. Treasuries. Yields and bond prices move in opposite directions.

Leveraged ETFs seek to provide a certain multiple (generally 2x or 3x) of daily returns on the underlying index. The daily movements in the underlying index and subsequent changes in ETF exposure may mean the ETF manager needs to rebalance the portfolio daily.

Tourism revenues—a key revenue component for all these countries—declined substantially because foreign tourists stayed away during the aftermath of the Great Recession. Key industries were also affected—notably cyclical industries like shipping.

Russ explains the good news behind his upgrade of the global financial sector as well as the bad news keeping his sector outlook somewhat subdued.

Gundlach thinks that investors should short low volatility equity funds. People invest in them thinking that they’re safe, but they aren’t.

Carl Icahn is one of the first activist investors to voice his opinion against share buybacks. He believes that companies are increasingly putting money into buybacks instead of using them for much-needed capital improvements.

Apple (AAPL) is one of the most cash-rich companies in the US. While Carl Icahn has been talking about share buybacks artificially inflating the Market and asset values, some buybacks have occurred as a result of his push.

Before moving to inverse and leveraged ETFs in the next part of this series, we’d like to quickly discuss the differences between ETFs and mutual funds.

The Home Depot’s (HD) focus on the pro customer allows the retailer to compete in the installations market and the product demand the services create.

Many European countries want the ability to print their own money and come to their own aid instead of going to the ECB (European Central Bank).

Currently, we’re in a highly levered system, especially the developed world. A levered economy depends on continued credit creation for stability and growth.

Bill Gross provided his view on lower rates no longer resulting in credit creation in the economy. They have also lost their efficacy in raising equity prices.

On Brexit, import restrictions and tariff quotas currently applicable to importers in the UK and foreign businesses that export to the UK are set to change.

Historically, high-yield securities have outperformed investment grade securities in good times and vice versa in hard times.

Many are likening the current student debt situation in the United States to the mortgage debt situation that led to the 2009 financial meltdown in the US economy.