Moody’s Economy.com Chief Economist Mark Zandi says that more stimulus is needed to ensure the U.S. doesn’t slip back into recession. Zandi tells Bloomberg that inflation will be no threat in 2010 or 2011, and that the government needs to do what is necessary to make sure the economic recovery turns into sustained expansion, rather than worrying about inflation that won’t hit for another couple years. He also says the financial crisis that hit in… Read More
Each week, we take a look at which stocks John Reese’s 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 John’s strategies have upgraded or downgraded today.
In his latest column for Canada’s Globe & Mail, Validea CEO John Reese says that investors would be wise to focus on “high-quality” stocks, particularly given current market conditions. Reese notes that in financial crises, “junk” stocks tend to get hit particularly hard, because companies with weak balance sheets are least likely to survive a depression or major recession. Fear drives their prices down, sometimes to irrationally cheap levels. Then, when the crisis passes and… Read More
In an interview with Bloomberg, Kenneth Fisher says that he’s high on some chemical stocks right now, for both fundamental and cyclical reasons. Fisher says the stocks that usually lead early in a bull market are those that fared well in the first half of the preceding bear market, but then got hammered in the second half of the bear. In the current case, that means materials — of which chemicals are a subset —… Read More
For much of the past year, Bill Gross of bond giant PIMCO has advocated “shaking hands with the government” — that is, investing in areas that benefit from the government’s massive bailout and stimulus efforts. Now, Gross says 2010 will be a year in which investors should ask “which government” they should shake hands with — and his answer might surprise you. In his latest Investment Outlook on PIMCO’s web site, Gross — in addition… Read More
Value manager Bill Miller says that 2010 will be another good year for stocks, but that investors need to be very careful of ways that government actions could impact their portfolios. “The outlook for both the stock market and the economy is considerably better than the consensus forecasts,” Miller, Legg Mason Capital Management’s chairman, tells Canada’s Globe & Mail. “There ought to be strong returns in U.S. equities this year. I don’t think that the… Read More
Newsletter guru Jim Oberweis says he thinks 2010 will be another strong year for stocks, but for different reasons than in 2009. “In contrast to 2009, when cheap valuations drove our bullish conviction,” Oberweis writes for MoneyShow.com, “our 2010 prediction is based on OOB — ‘Out of Bonds.’” According to Oberweis, “way too much money has flowed into bonds in this risk-averse world.” The historically bad decade for stocks and strong decade for bonds are… Read More
In his latest Wall Street Journal column, Jason Zweig offers an interesting take on the efficient market hypothesis, channeling the late, great Benjamin Graham for guidance. Zweig says that while the stock market may give the most accurate estimate of a stock’s value based on the available information, that doesn’t mean its estimates are right. The reason, he says, involves the two main factors that Graham said go into a security’s price: ‘investment value’ (which… Read More
Growth stock guru Louis Navellier says he sees a very healthy earnings environment for the first five months of 2010. He also tells Bloomberg that he expects stocks will do well in that period, after which the market will become much more selective. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFCgetifsuA]
Every other issue of The Validea Hot List newsletter examines in detail one of John Reese’s computerized Guru Strategies. This latest issue looks at the Martin Zweig-inspired strategy, which has produced annualized returns of 8% since its inception more than six years ago, a period in which the S&P 500 has gained just 2.1% per year. Below is an excerpt from today’s newsletter along with several top-scoring stock ideas based on the Zweig investment strategy.… Read More