Over the past week-plus, we’ve seen plenty of selling across the board in equities. Not only have the major indices sold off, but so too have stocks in the emerging markets, commodities sectors and various other income-oriented market segments. The declines in the market of late have prompted us to make a host of adjustments […]

Over the past month, we’ve been watching heightened volatility and a rapid sell-off in the commodities sector, and in the emerging markets of Asia and elsewhere. This week, that volatility made its way into the major U.S. averages, as the Dow saw a huge triple-digit drop on Thursday (some 260 points) and huge upside on […]

Global Climate Change, ETF Style This week, the United Nations is hosting what it calls the UN 2014 Climate Summit, a meeting of world leaders for the purpose of dealing with a gradually warming planet. Now, I’ll leave this politically charged event aside for the moment and flip the focus to another kind of global

“One problem with age is that patience begins to ebb.” –Carl Hiaasen The writer and humorist Carl Hiaasen often puts a smile on readers’ faces, and he does so here with his thoughts on age and patience. Yet when it comes to investing, don’t let your age and your ebbing patience get the best of

In the long term, the market rewards companies for demonstrating good business fundamentals. Examples include companies that sell goods and services to a large number of people while profiting handsomely by containing costs. Sure, in the short term the market can function as a sort of popularity contest. However, over time there is nothing better

This week, the United Nations is hosting what it calls the UN 2014 Climate Summit, a meeting of world leaders for the purpose of dealing with a gradually warming planet. Now, I’ll leave this politically charged event aside for the moment and flip the focus to another kind of global climate change — the one that’s taking

As we mentioned in Friday’s Hotline, there’s been a return of volatility in the currency, commodity and emerging market segments. This volatility increased in Monday’s trade, with stocks declining about 1% across the board. The action in Monday’s trade actually sent two of our current positions below their respective stop-loss prices. Today’s sells, plus the […]

If you look at the Dow and the S&P 500, you would think that volatility in the market is largely absent. After all, the large-cap segments of the domestic equity market now trade right around new highs, and it seems like whatever happens with the Fed, geopolitics, Europe, China, etc., large-caps just keep going and […]

A Trip Around the World with Four Key ETFs I love to travel, but the constraints of running a business, family obligations and the fondness I have for my hometown of Huntington Beach, California, mostly keep me tethered to my personal fort. Yet not choosing to travel doesn’t stop me from taking a daily trip