Media: What Isn’t Priced In Yet?
by ilene - September 12th, 2011 11:33 pm
Courtesy of Joshua M Brown, The Reformed Broker
One of the toughest calls to make here is whether or not we’ve got enough negativity in these S&P 500 levels yet. The answer is that we’re probably almost there in terms of apathy and disgust for stocks, but valuations aren’t yet alarmingly cheap and there is some difficulty in determining whether Europe has gotten close enough to the abyss to drop the big money bomb on it’s problems just yet. The washout, in my opinion, is still out there somewhere…
I dropped in on the CNBC Street Signs gang for a live taping from New Jersey today, we talked about this very subject and Hedgeye’s Keith McCullough was also in the mix. Enjoy!
Source:
Media: Expanded Thoughts on Potential Currency Trading Bubble
by ilene - September 10th, 2010 6:27 pm
Media: Expanded Thoughts on Potential Currency Trading Bubble
Courtesy of Joshua M Brown, The Reformed Broker
I gave an interview to My Private Banker the other day. They wanted to take my discussion of the potential bubble in currency trading a step further.
Enjoy:
Investing in currencies is all the rage in wealth management. Currency ETFs, ETNs and currency structructured products are springing up like mushrooms. Inspired by the Euro crisis many private investors in the EU have started investing in currency products. Wealth managers and bankers play also a big role as more and more products are pushed on to their clients. But does currency investing make any sense? We talked about this topic to Josh Brown, who is one of the best known global finance bloggers providing daily comments on The Reformed Broker. Josh Brown has been recently a vocal critic of the boom in currency investing.
MyPrivateBanking: Why do you see a bubble in currency trading – comparable to bubbles in stocks or house prices?
Josh Brown: With currencies, we are still at the stage where we’re talking "prospective bubble", but all the ingredients are there. This isn’t going to be a Price Bubble, it will be an Activity Bubble should the mania take over.
MyPrivateBanking: What differentiates this bubble from “normal” investment bubbles?
Josh Brown: Normal investment bubbles require a certain backdrop of speculative fervor along with some exogenous encouragement to fan the flames (think innovative mortgages or freely available margin leverage). This one is more akin to the Texas Hold ‘Em craze of the mid-2000′s where all of a sudden all your friends and neighbors were poker sharks out of nowhere.
MyPrivateBanking: Why do wealth managers increasingly recommend currency products to their clients?
Josh Brown: I think wealth managers are introducing ETFs that are currency-related because of what’s known as "reverse inquiry". The financial media has done a really terrific job of painting the currency markets as unstable and exciting, this has led to product introductions and marketing which has in turn led to inquiries from the public to their advisors – "How can we get in on this". The reality is that it’s foolish to "invest" in a currency from an asset management standpoint, unless we’re talking about swinging for the fences with the Iraqi Dinar or something. Currency is not an investment, it…
Media: Appearance on The Keiser Report
by ilene - July 1st, 2010 5:00 pm
Media: Appearance on The Keiser Report
Courtesy of Joshua M. Brown, The Reformed Broker
The other day I was over at the Associated Press building taping an episode of the Keiser Report with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert. We talked financial reform, the Econ Gangs of New York and the failure of the stimulus plan.
Now keep in mind, the camera adds 10 pounds, and I had at least 3 cameras on me. Anyway, my segment comes in at the 13 minute mark, enjoy:
Decoding Fund Brochures
by ilene - December 14th, 2009 7:39 pm
Decoding Fund Brochures
Courtesy of Joshua M Brown, The Reformed Broker
I’ve been reading these things for 14 years, I think I finally got the hang of it. Feel free to use this as a reference guide during your next mutual, exchange traded or closed end fund selection.
Here’s the all-text version:
Fund Brochure Says… | What It Really Means… |
Ultra | Leveraged to the Hilt |
Global Growth | We’ll Chase Stocks For You in Whichever Country is Most Overheated Right Now |
Clean/ Green | A Basket of Government-Subsidized Experiments and Some Shares of GE |
Deep Value | We Will Invest in Sewing Machine and Typewriter Companies |
Premium | We Will Pay Up for High-Multiple Stocks/ You Will Pay Up in Fees |
Socially Responsible | No Such Thing – All Corporations are Evil, Sucker |
Diversified | We Will Basically Buy the Index and Go Golfing |
Enhanced | Uses Exotic Derivatives You’ve Never Heard Of |
Balanced | We Will Underperform Both the Bond AND the Stock Market. You’re Welcome. |
Aggressive Growth | Collection of Chinese Online Gaming Stocks and New Jersey Biotech Startups |
Lifecycle | We Can See 20 Years Into the Future, Only Putnam Knows When and How You Will Die |
Moderate Allocation | Gutless Fund Manager |
Quantitative | Manager Will Take Credit for Up Years, Blame Computers for Down Years |
Endeavor/ Opportunities | We Will Throw Darts |
Core | No Need to Spread it Out, Send Us Everything You Have |