The managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute — whose leading indicators have a very solid track record of predicting economic trends — says we’re in the early stages of a “V”-shaped recovery that will be “virtually unstoppable” through the first half of 2010. “We are in the early stages of the recovery and it looks to be a lot stronger” than the consensus, Lakshman Achuthan told Yahoo! TechTicker. The ECRI’s index of Weekly… Read More
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn tells CNBC that the economy is on a “precipice” and the market is “schizophrenic”, but he still sees opportunities in some areas. Icahn says he sees plays in advertising, telecom, the Internet and bankruptcies, but he also says amateur investors need to be very cautious because another downturn in the economy could result in a “bloodbath”. And, he says he doesn’t understand why “any individual in their right mind” would… Read More
Canada’s Globe & Mail is running a number of interview clips with commodities guru Jim Rogers, focusing on Rogers’ thoughts on the potential hot-bed of growth in China. In this clip, Rogers talks about some of the sectors that he thinks are the best places to invest in China. Among his favorites: agriculture, education, and infrastructure. In other segments, Rogers offers his thoughts on his broader China strategy, currency investing, the impact Chinese politics could… Read More
While hedge fund guru George Soros has been saying that a U.S. economic recovery is a ways off, he’s still buying up shares in some stocks, The Wall Street Journal reports. Soros Fund Management, which gained 32% in 2007 and 8% last year, recently reported that it upped its stakes in energy firms InterOil Corp. and Headwaters Inc. Almost a third of the fund’s equity assets were invested in energy companies as of its most… Read More
Each week, I take a look at which stocks my Validea.com Guru Strategy computer models have newfound interest in, and which they have soured on. Here’s a look at some of the stocks that my strategies have upgraded or downgraded today. Among the big-name movers: MasterCard, Pfizer, and TD AmeriTrade.
How many stocks is enough for your portfolio? We examined that question a little while back, and now new evidence supports the idea that “enough” might be a lower number than most people think. The data comes from Morningstar Inc., which was recently asked by The Wall Street Journal to look into the issue of diversification — specifically at how concentrated funds of 40 or fewer holdings fared in terms of performance and volatility compared… Read More
Fidelity’s Anthony Bolton, one of the U.K.’s top fund managers, says that we’re embarking on a multi-year bull market for global equities, with developing nations leading the way. “Low growth means low interest rates, and actually that’s one of the best environments for stock-market investing,” Bolton, whose Special Situations Fund beat the FTSE All-Share Index by 6 percentage points per year from 1979 through 2007 (he stepped down in early ’08), told Bloomberg television. “Anything… Read More
Jeremy Siegel, the Wharton professor and author of Stocks for the Long Run, says that the painful losses investors endured in the recent bear market have not done anything to change the merits of long-term stock investing. “A look at history shows that the recent experience is not uncommon and excellent returns are available to those who survive rough patches,” Siegel writes in the Financial Times. He says that since 1871, the three worst 10-year… Read More
Columbia University economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz tells Bloomberg News that he sees rough terrain ahead for the economy, and, potentially, the markets. Stiglitz says the next quarter or two may be good in terms of economic growth, but adds that over the longer term the economy doesn’t appear poised to grow enough to significantly reduce unemployment. He says that low interest rates and the weak economy have actually helped the market in recent… Read More
The Institute for Supply Management released its latest services sector report this morning, and the results were encouraging: The group’s non-manufacturing index indicated that service sector activity expanded in September for the first time in almost a year. The index rose to 50.9%, slightly above the 50% mark that is the demarcation between an expansion and a contraction. The index’s data subsets painted a picture of a service sector in which demand is picking up,… Read More