China’s economy is slowing, Brazilian and Turkish citizens are in revolt, and commodity prices have fallen sharply. It’s no wonder that investors have pulled millions out of emerging market funds in the past few months. Yet it’s unwise to paint these markets with a broad brush. They may be experiencing sporadic hiccups, but they still possess one of the most dynamic investment themes of the early 21st century:… Read More

China’s economy is slowing, Brazilian and Turkish citizens are in revolt, and commodity prices have fallen sharply. It’s no wonder that investors have pulled millions out of emerging market funds in the past few months. Yet it’s unwise to paint these markets with a broad brush. They may be experiencing sporadic hiccups, but they still possess one of the most dynamic investment themes of the early 21st century: rising middle classes that are fueling steady gains in consumer spending.#-ad_banner-# Let’s look at China as an example. The world’s second-largest economy had been witnessing double-digit gains in consumer spending, though the Chinese government just announced that the growth rate slowed to 6.5% in the second quarter of 2013. Developed economies in North America would love to generate that level of growth. Take Indonesia as another example. As I noted earlier this month, auto sales rose 17.8% in the first quarter of this… Read More

China’s economy is slowing, Brazilian and Turkish citizens are in revolt, and commodity prices have fallen sharply. It’s no wonder that investors have pulled millions out of emerging market funds in the past few months. Yet it’s unwise to paint these markets with a broad brush. They may be experiencing sporadic hiccups, but they still possess one of the most dynamic investment themes of the early 21st century:… Read More

China’s economy is slowing, Brazilian and Turkish citizens are in revolt, and commodity prices have fallen sharply. It’s no wonder that investors have pulled millions out of emerging market funds in the past few months. Yet it’s unwise to paint these markets with a broad brush. They may be experiencing sporadic hiccups, but they still possess one of the most dynamic investment themes of the early 21st century: rising middle classes that are fueling steady gains in consumer spending.#-ad_banner-# Let’s look at China as an example. The world’s second-largest economy had been witnessing double-digit gains in consumer spending, though the Chinese government just announced that the growth rate slowed to 6.5% in the second quarter of 2013. Developed economies in North America would love to generate that level of growth. Take Indonesia as another example. As I noted earlier this month, auto sales rose 17.8% in the first quarter of this… Read More

Did you miss out on China’s unprecedented growth?  In the past decade and a half, China has sailed past Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan before settling in as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. If you missed out on that growth, were you put off from investing while many experts dithered about the reliability of official Chinese government data? It would have been nearly impossible for an individual investor to get in on China in 1998. The… Read More

Did you miss out on China’s unprecedented growth?  In the past decade and a half, China has sailed past Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan before settling in as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. If you missed out on that growth, were you put off from investing while many experts dithered about the reliability of official Chinese government data? It would have been nearly impossible for an individual investor to get in on China in 1998. The Xinhua China 25 Index (NYSE: FXI) made its debut in 2004 as the first Chinese exchange-traded fund (ETF), but it has had considerable downsides, including its fees and a high concentration in the financial space. As a proxy for investing in China since 2009, consider the SPDR S&P China ETF (NYSE: GXC), which has a more balanced portfolio than FXI. Read More

Did you miss out on China’s unprecedented growth?  In the past decade and a half, China has sailed past Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan before settling in as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. If you missed out on that growth, were you put off from investing while many experts dithered about the reliability of official Chinese government data? It would have been nearly impossible for an individual investor to get in on China in 1998. The… Read More

Did you miss out on China’s unprecedented growth?  In the past decade and a half, China has sailed past Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan before settling in as the world’s second-largest economy behind the United States. If you missed out on that growth, were you put off from investing while many experts dithered about the reliability of official Chinese government data? It would have been nearly impossible for an individual investor to get in on China in 1998. The Xinhua China 25 Index (NYSE: FXI) made its debut in 2004 as the first Chinese exchange-traded fund (ETF), but it has had considerable downsides, including its fees and a high concentration in the financial space. As a proxy for investing in China since 2009, consider the SPDR S&P China ETF (NYSE: GXC), which has a more balanced portfolio than FXI. Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be… Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be seen as opening for investors that have been awaiting better valuations in these markets. Indeed, the forward earnings multiple for many of these countries’ stock markets has been drifting ever lower, creating a valuation gap with U.S. stock markets that, in some instances, approaches 40%. Still, investors need to know that these markets can surely fall lower, so it’s crucial to take the long view with investments in Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. If… Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be… Read More

Forget the old adage “When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”  Friday’s solid employment report shows the U.S. economy — the world’s largest by a considerable margin — to be faring reasonably well. The new adage: “When China sneezes, the world catches a cold.” China’s economy, which recently overtook Japan’s as the world’s second largest, has been slowing throughout the first half of 2013. That slowdown is wreaking havoc on many emerging economies.#-ad_banner-# The sharp pullback in places like Brazil, Australia, Turkey and elsewhere should be seen as opening for investors that have been awaiting better valuations in these markets. Indeed, the forward earnings multiple for many of these countries’ stock markets has been drifting ever lower, creating a valuation gap with U.S. stock markets that, in some instances, approaches 40%. Still, investors need to know that these markets can surely fall lower, so it’s crucial to take the long view with investments in Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa. If… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact,… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact, stock markets already seem to be recovering, creating even more confusion for investors. Rather than relying on headlines to determine when I should join in the selling, I base decisions on my 26-week rate of change (ROC) system. The 26-week ROC system is designed to buy the strongest ETFs when the market is rising and avoid positions in markets that are weak. Right now,… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact,… Read More

Headline writers seemed to have settled on attributing the latest market volatility to a “taper tantrum.” They are referring to sellers seizing on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the Fed will eventually stop adding liquidity to the markets.#-ad_banner-# While “taper tantrum” makes a great headline, it does little to tell us whether or not the selling is the start of a significant decline. In fact, stock markets already seem to be recovering, creating even more confusion for investors. Rather than relying on headlines to determine when I should join in the selling, I base decisions on my 26-week rate of change (ROC) system. The 26-week ROC system is designed to buy the strongest ETFs when the market is rising and avoid positions in markets that are weak. Right now,… Read More

In recent days, investors might not have noticed a very unusual trend playing out in global markets. A number of once-robust currencies are in freefall against the U.S. dollar — and counterintuitively, that spells opportunity for U.S. investors. Looking For A Bottom From the South African rand and the Brazilian real to the Australian dollar, a worldwide slump is emerging. It’s very unusual for currencies to gain or lose value in a rapid fashion, but the recent charts are quite humbling, as this chart of the Australian dollar shows. Read More

In recent days, investors might not have noticed a very unusual trend playing out in global markets. A number of once-robust currencies are in freefall against the U.S. dollar — and counterintuitively, that spells opportunity for U.S. investors. Looking For A Bottom From the South African rand and the Brazilian real to the Australian dollar, a worldwide slump is emerging. It’s very unusual for currencies to gain or lose value in a rapid fashion, but the recent charts are quite humbling, as this chart of the Australian dollar shows. For U.S. investors with exposure to these markets, the currency shift eats away at a stock or fund‘s value, which comes on top of existing weakness in many foreign markets when denominated in their own currencies. For example, the iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund ETF (NYSE: EWA) has underperformed the S&P 500 by a stunning 20 percentage points since the… Read More

Investing in semiconductor stocks can be quite challenging. Many of them languish for a long time — even as operations clearly improve — until suddenly, investors begin singing the company’s praises. That’s why I suggested investors stay the course with memory-chip maker Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU). That patience has been rewarded, as Micron is now on the top of many “buy” lists and making a run for the $12 mark, after having more than doubled over the past… Read More

Investing in semiconductor stocks can be quite challenging. Many of them languish for a long time — even as operations clearly improve — until suddenly, investors begin singing the company’s praises. That’s why I suggested investors stay the course with memory-chip maker Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU). That patience has been rewarded, as Micron is now on the top of many “buy” lists and making a run for the $12 mark, after having more than doubled over the past year. Although Micron may have a bit more upside, I prefer to focus on chipmakers that still suffer from very low expectations, even as their business starts to get stronger. Right now, that’s the backdrop for ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN), which has integrated a series of recent acquisitions and is poised to generate robust free cash flow in the years ahead. Diversity Is A Virtue One of the reasons that you may have never heard of this company,… Read More