Global financial markets experienced significant volatility last week as the tragic earthquake and devastating tsunami that struck Japan continue to ripple throughout the global economy. The G-7 intervened in the foreign exchange markets last Friday in a truly historic fashion, selling Japanese yen to help contribute to the formation of a stable exchange rate following the recent tragic events. Equities recovered nicely on Thursday and Friday of last week, especially given the magnitude of Tuesday and Wednesday’s sell-offs and the clouds still hanging over the market. Meanwhile, Cisco announced that it was going to make its first quarterly dividend payment to shareholders of record as of March 31, with the payout scheduled to be six cents a share. “This dividend complements our leading position, and is an important part of our commitment to bring value to shareholders,” said Chief Financial Officer Frank Calderoni. At the end of the week oil settled back above $100 a barrel, while gold climbed upward as well, pushing past $1,420 an ounce once again. [click to continue…]
Score another point for the bears. Recent data releases have painted a dismal picture for the U.S. housing industry, as sales plummet, construction grinds to a halt, and inventories soar. After housing sales declined 33% in May after the expiration of a critical tax credit, the sector was further battered with the release of June’s [...]
The housing sector of the U.S. economy has been battered and bruised over the last several years, as new home prices have plummeted, sales activity dried up, and unemployment skyrocketed towards double digits. A brief reprieve came recently in the form of generous government subsidies for first time home-buyers, a program designed to spark an [...]
One of the hardest hit sectors in the recent recession was homebuilding, which was pushed to the edge of collapse as construction ground to a halt and credit markets froze. That combination sent many homebuilders reeling and saw shares plunge over the past year and a half. Despite a broad market recovery as of late, [...]
The first quarter of 2010 is officially in the books, with global equity markets calming after a rocky start to post impressive gains in March. Most ETFs finished the first quarter–a three month period many investors saw as a critical test of the recovery’s staying power–in positive territory. Of course some funds performed better than [...]
With the end of the first quarter coming to a close, many equity markets continued their slow but steady climb higher last week, with some even touching new 18 month highs. The week ahead will bring a slew of data releases and earnings reports that should test the strength of the current rally. Below, we [...]
A recurring investment theme so far this year has been the resurgence of markets and sectors hit hardest by the recent global economic downturn. Japanese equities, the unquestioned laggard of the global economy during 2009, have shown signs of life in the first three months of this year. Financial ETFs have continued to rally into [...]
After a strong start to last week and a relatively uneventful Fed meeting, markets finished on a slide as investors began to worry that a recent rally was a bit overdone. As central bank meetings around the developing and emerging world continue, there is no shortage of data releases and earnings reports to create another [...]
Homebuilders were among the hardest hit sectors during the recent recession, as steep declines in demand for new properties brought this once-booming industry to a standstill. However, the combination of legislative initiatives (such as the home buyer tax credit) and record low interest rates have breathed life into a sector that was recently left for [...]
With just over a month in the books for 2010, equity markets have already been taken on a wild ride. After an initial jump, concerns over a government-imposed slowdown in China weighed on global stocks, particularly emerging markets and commodity-intensive businesses. As we enter February, many equity ETFs find themselves in the red for the [...]
The U.S. housing market, having been battered and bruised during the recent recession, had staged an impressive recovery in recent months as belief that the market has finally hit bottom seemed to gain support. But new data reveals the true fragility of the housing recovery, and indicates that the potential for a “double dip” in [...]
