Wells Fargo Raises Dividend? Say What!
Wells Fargo Bank shares are surging +20% today. The market clearly wasn’t expecting the news from Wells Fargo during their earnings release and conference call today. One money manager stated; “Stronger banks will benefit handsomely from the credit crisis, and investors view Wells Fargo as...
Now He Tells Us
I have a lot of sympathy for Fed chairman Ben Bernanke. He inherited a boatload of problems created by other people, and now everyone expects him to fix them instantly. In fact, he doesn’t have magical powers. He’s human like the rest of us. His job in trying to coordinate U.S. economic and...
Confidence Cracking
Last September, no one expected it. At the beginning of the credit crisis, the Bank of England handled an old-fashioned bank run at Northern Rock Building Society. In British English, depositors ‘queued’ outside brick-and-mortar branches demanding their hard-earned, but uninsured savings....
Fannie Freddie Fiasco
“If the foundations are destroyed, what will the righteous do?” So wrote King David around 1000 BC. Today, we might ask a similar question. If U.S. debt cannot be trusted, what will the financial markets do? The idea is being implicitly raised by an article we just read. Bloomberg wrote:...
Let Them Eat Cake
According to former Senator Phil Gramm, we have become “a nation of whiners.” The recession everyone talks about is purely “mental.” At least this is what he said in an interview with the Washington Times published on Wednesday. This will come as news to the 3.2 million Americans...
Three Reasons Why Hedge Funds Ain’t All That
In the world of investment management, there are different tiers of investors. First off, there’s the do-it-yourselfers. These investors view the market like an avocation, making trades in discretionary or retirement accounts. Sometimes they do well, sometimes not. Many of our readers fall into...
ETFs When the Market is Crazy
CNBC posted an article today with ETF suggestions for a market gone crazy. We all know the market is going crazy, that’s for sure. But let me ask you something. Is there ever a time when the market isn’t going crazy? Or let me put it another way…have you ever bought or sold a stock...
Catch a Falling Knife?
Which is Preferred: A Falling Knife or a Falling Safe? In case you’ve been away, stock markets around the world are behaving badly. Many investors assumed you could hide from the carnage in places like energy, materials, and commodities. However, even oil is coming off recent highs. And corn...
Apple Pie and Chevrolet
There was a time when an executive at America’s largest auto manufacturer could say something like “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” If this were ever true, it is certainly not so today. Shares in GM fell -15%, bringing the year-to-date total return for this...
Another Tough Day And a Bear Market Report
Another lousy day for the market, huh?! Many times my colleagues accuse me of being a perma bull, and frankly, I plead guilty as charged! I am a victim of my optimistic and consistently enthusiastic state of mind and being. So, in an effort to take a necessary dose of medication that my colleagues here...
