Back in the fall of 2008, virtually every equity-focused mutual fund was falling in value. The selloff was most keenly felt in many closed-end funds (CEFs). Not only did these funds see their portfolio of investments drop in value, but the fund price… Read More
Investing Basics
The list of investing mistakes I’ve seen (and as a stock broker in the go-go 1990s and early 2000s, I had an opportunity to see plenty of them) is longer than I care to recall. Over-committing, over-trading, sector concentration, you name it — I saw it all as so many… Read More
On Monday, Aug. 8, the S&P 500 took an 80-point dive. That was a buying opportunity. Now, I don’t mean it was a buying opportunity in the traditional “stocks rise in the long term” idea, meaning you should buy on any dip. #-ad_banner-#Truth… Read More
In the Chairman’s letter written to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) in 1995, Warren Buffett explained why retailing can be a tough business. He likened it to a “shooting-star phenomenon,” where not taking care of day-to-day details can lead to failure. He also explained that consumers… Read More
Even as the market surged ever higher in 2009, 2010 and early 2011, an unpleasant development occurred. One of the world’s most appealing economies saw its stock market zoom ahead so quickly, that it became hard to justify putting any new investment dollars into it. But thanks to the recent… Read More
The truth will make you sick. Technically it’s public knowledge, but I can tell you — it’s Congress’ dirty little secret. Insider trading laws don’t apply to Congress. I wish I were kidding. If… Read More
After a couple of weeks of steady losses, the stock market is now in all-out frenzy mode. Massive drops or eye-popping gains are the norm these days, creating havoc for anyone trying to establish a foothold with long or short-oriented investments. In fact, short sellers are the most exposed in this current era of high volatility, even with their potential of reaping huge gains, as they have recently. Short sellers need to watch out for sudden rallies. If they are targeting a heavily-shorted stock, then a short squeeze could push up… Read More
After a couple of weeks of steady losses, the stock market is now in all-out frenzy mode. Massive drops or eye-popping gains are the norm these days, creating havoc for anyone trying to establish a foothold with long or short-oriented investments. In fact, short sellers are the most exposed in this current era of high volatility, even with their potential of reaping huge gains, as they have recently. Short sellers need to watch out for sudden rallies. If they are targeting a heavily-shorted stock, then a short squeeze could push up the stock up faster than the broader market, creating potentially huge losses for shorts — yet equally large gains for investors who went long. With this in mind, I’ve been looking at the just-released short-interest data, which tallies the short-interest levels in stocks as of July 28. The size of these short positions may have changed since then, but almost all of the most heavily-shorted stocks are likely to remain near or atop the leader board when we get the next round of data that tracks short levels through Aug. 15. Make no mistake,… Read More
As many companies prepared to disclose second-quarter earnings, they noted a fundamental disconnect between their outlooks, their balance sheets and their lagging share price. In search of a remedy, these companies announced major stock buyback programs. Little did they know the stock market plunge of the past two weeks… Read More
For equity investors with a long time horizon, this summer’s big pullbacks in stocks have created some very exciting investment opportunities. A savvy stock picker should know the best opportunities arise when things are scariest and everyone else is scurrying for the exits. Now is one of… Read More
A sharp plunge on Monday, Aug.8, a stunning rebound on Tuesday, another pullback on Wednesday. When will it all end? It’s increasingly clear that very low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios aren’t grounds enough to bring out value investors. Read More