Financial Planning
Black clouds gather over US equities
- Irrational exuberance is one hackneyed phrase that comes to mind to describe Friday’s bounce in US equities. No matter that GDP growth had slumped to 1.1% in Q4, or that home re-sales are at their lowest level for five years, or that General Motors and Ford are losing billions and laying-off tens of thousands of workers.
- Saturday, January 28 - 2006 at 12:31 |
Markets looking for a reason to sell-off!
- Last Friday saw the worst one-day fall in US equities for three years. This tells us more about markets and investor mindsets than reams of company reports. The markets are overvalued after a long period of low interest rates, and looking for any reason to sell-off.
- Sunday, January 22 - 2006 at 08:41 |
Gold starts 2006 well, but this is not a 25-year high!
- Investors in gold saw the yellow metal soar to $557 an ounce in the first two weeks of 2006, and in nominal terms gold has not been this high for 25 years. But if you adjust for consumer price inflation over the past 25 years, gold is still lower than the $1,400 an ounce it was worth in 1981 in 2006 dollars.
- Saturday, January 14 - 2006 at 11:08 |
How will Middle East equities perform in 2006?
- After three years of stellar performance, Middle East stock market valuations are looking a bit overstretched, and equities have been more volatile in the second-half of 2005. But oil prices are heading higher, so liquidity is not about to become a problem.
- Tuesday, January 10 - 2006 at 09:49 |
The inverted yield curve is surely a warning for equity investors
- Right at the end of 2005 the US Treasury yield curve inverted, with long rates now below short term interest rates. That usually, though not always, signals a recession ahead. And that is always bad news for equities.
- Monday, January 02 - 2006 at 15:53 |
Investing in gold 2006; Part Two: exploration companies
- This article is aimed at investors already convinced that gold prices are set to advance to $600-650 in 2006, and who want to find the best way to leverage this advance for capital gain. The junior gold exploration companies are more risky investments than major gold mining firms or bullion, but the potential gain is considerably higher.
- Tuesday, December 20 - 2005 at 12:24 |
Investing in gold 2006: Part One
- The best performing major asset class for 2005 was gold. However, gold has lagged the commodities and precious metals boom and is still very cheap in relation to other commodities such as oil against which it has traditionally been benchmarked.
- Saturday, December 17 - 2005 at 11:57 |
Where to invest in 2006: going for gold again?
- The second part of this investment series for 2006 looks at the themes most likely to make investors money next year. Incidentally, followers of this column will note that our 2005 recommendations were largely correct, so hopefully a little pride will not come before a fall.
- Saturday, December 10 - 2005 at 15:39 |
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