About six months ago, Twitter launched a new video application called Vine. For those unfamiliar with the app, it allows users to create 6-second video clips that loop continually. Vines are really just an evolution of animated GIFs that have sound and are fully integrated with Twitter for easy broadcast and sharing. Last month, we... More »Are Banks Growing with Vine? Not Yet
Introduction “I think the market is overvalued now,” is a common refrain that I’m hearing from most of the individual investors I have recently been coming in contact with. Consequently, many of these same investors are also currently eschewing investing in common stocks because of that fear. Although I do not agree that the market... More »Searching For Value And Finding It In Today’s Market – Sector By Sector
The rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage has been creeping up higher and just broke the four-percent threshold. This is a telltale sign that higher financing rates are on the horizon. While there’s still hope that the Federal Reserve will hold off on reducing its bond buying at next week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)... More »Investor Beware: Higher Interest Rates Looming
With the S&P 500 close to its all-time highs, a common question is: will we see a pullback or a continuation in the bull market? This is obviously a very complicated question to answer, as investor sentiment in the S&P 500 can shift extremely quickly. In addition, there is obviously no quantifiable method to predicting... More »Investor Sentiment Eroding Globally; Is America Next?
Generally speaking, by keeping focus on the long term, investors can grow their portfolio with peace of mind. When doing this, they are not concerned about what happens to their portfolio on a daily basis; rather, they are looking for performance at the end of the year, when it’s less stressful. That said, while not... More »Two Proven Short-Term Strategies for Long-Term Investors
The appetite that institutional investors have had to bid the stock market is diminishing. Earnings estimates for the second quarter are actually being trimmed by corporations and Wall Street. It makes for a genuinely peculiar environment for the stock market—share prices at their highs on declining expectations for corporate earnings. The lesson is clear: it... More »Crash, Down Quarter, Major Correction—It’s All in the Cards
Before analyzing a company for investment, it’s important to have a perspective on how well the business has performed. Because at the end of the day, if you are an investor, you are buying the business. The FAST Graphs™ presented with this article will focus first on the business behind the stock. The orange line... More »PVH Corp: Fundamental Stock Research Analysis
The recent weakness in many precious metals has led some to believe the investment opportunity in that sector is over. However, I don’t believe that’s true—not all of the precious metals have the same fundamental drivers and thus have had varying levels of performance. While some precious metals, such as silver, have dropped over the... More »Precious Metals: Down for the Count?
Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, believes the likelihood of the U.S. credit rating being downgraded in the near term is less than 33% (one in three) and it has decided to keep its credit rating on the U.S. economy at AA+, slightly lower than the best investment grade. (Source: Standards & Poor’s, June... More »Number of S&P 500 Companies Reporting Negative Guidance a Red Flag
I can’t stress this enough: troubles in the eurozone are far from over. First and most important, the strongest nations in the eurozone are experiencing an economic slowdown now too. As I have written before, France and Germany are seeing diminishing demand. Finland, one of the financially strongest nations in the eurozone, fell into a... More »Germany to Pull Back on ECB’s “Whatever It Takes” Position?
In just a matter of a few months, the S&P 500 is up more than 14%. To say the very least, these gains are nothing short of amazing—much better than what investors can get with the long-term U.S. bonds that currently yield less than 3.5%. Consider this: on average, in the first five months of... More »Fear Sneaking Back into the Stock Market
Much hype has been made over how much “Obamacare” is going to cost Americans. The Republicans and, dare I say, the majority of Americans believe it will significantly increase the cost of insurance for people who buy it on their own. The Democrats have been quick to dismiss any such silly notions. Slugging through the... More »Obamacare a Boon for Biotechs?
Innovators are known for their idea channels. Novel ideas and collaboration give entrepreneurs the inspiration and guidance that groundbreaking work requires. As an investor, it’s easy to think that the market for ideas is solely the property of the innovator. But creating an easily flowing current of opportunities is just as essential for an investor... More »Capital Vision: Cultivating Your Success
There is now pressure on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is getting awfully close to the $100.00-per-barrel level again. Futures traders are interpreting economic news, including last Friday’s employment report, as strength in the U.S economy. Resource stocks have generally been trending lower, particularly in precious metals. But this hasn’t been the case... More »Why Supply and Demand Doesn’t Matter for U.S. Oil
The Chinese are coming! Well, not really, but we did see the first Chinese initial public offering (IPO) of the year list on an U.S. exchange yesterday and only the third Chinese IPO since 2011. The pipeline has dried up from the 60 or so Chinese IPOs listing in the U.S. from 2008 to 2011.... More »Why There May Be an Insatiable Appetite for Chinese IPOs
India, the biggest consumer of gold bullion, is witnessing over-the-top demand—to the point where the government is trying to curb demand. The Finance Minister of India said last week, “Banks have a role to play in dampening the enthusiasm for gold. I think the RBI [Reserve Bank of India] has advised banks that they should... More »Indian Government to Banks: Stop Telling People to Buy Gold
The Japanese economy is a prime example of what happens when central bank–infused “economic growth” crumbles. Quantitative easing may have been needed in the U.S. economy when the financial system was on the verge of collapse, but artificially low interest rates and vast amounts of paper money printing could be creating major troubles for our... More »Japan Resorts to Buying ETFs and REITs to Prop Up Stock Market; Will Fed Eventually Do the Same?
Regular, thorough audits are a very important tool for running a compliant, successful corporation. These audits help uncover problems that might have otherwise gone unnoticed, stopping them from evolving into serious issues. Corporate audits are thus typically handled and paid for by the corporation being audited to help them spot those types of problems. But... More »Business Basics – Corporate Audits
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