WHY ARE INTEREST RATES FALLING?
If the economy is so rosy, as the Federal Reserve has insinuated with tapering and talk of higher inflation (PPI is up 0.6% in April and 2.1% over the past year), why would interest rates be falling? Under normal circumstances, falling interest rates imply the economy is not as robust as it seems. However, this […]
MANAGED FUTURES: OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERSIFICATION
What are Managed Futures? Let’s break this down a bit and start with a futures contract. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell a set amount of a particular asset at a predetermined price and date. The futures market is comprised of agriculture assets (sugar, corn, etc.), energy assets (natural gas, oil, […]
RISK AND OPPORTUNITY
The Federal Reserve, along with central banks around the globe, has been easing for over 5 years. After that long of a time period, market distortions will occur. What do we mean? From 2003-2006, the Federal Reserve left interest rates lower than they should have been and this distorted the real estate market. We remember […]
ENERGY – THE RESOURCE EVERY COUNTRY NEEDS – A GREAT INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE
On Sunday, Crimea has their referendum to join Russia. Even though there is a lot of tough rhetoric from Europe and the United States, Putin has the “energy card” that will allow him to keep Crimea with very little ramifications. Putin is able to do this because Europe depends on the energy from Russia. They […]
The Chess Game
It looks like the pawns (the people) of Ukraine have taken a strategic position by forcing President Viktor Yanukovych to retreat to Russia. Is this the end of the game? We don’t think so as long as Putin is leading Russia. The last thing Putin, who is an ex-KGB agent, wants is for Ukraine to […]
EUROPE UPDATE – IS ALL WELL OR ARE WE IN THE EYE OF THE STORM?
In the time period leading up to, and in the time period since, German Chancellor Merkel’s re-election, things have been relatively quiet in Europe. Now that her re-election is behind us, we believe the problems we have written about in the past – which have yet to be solved – will begin to resurface. Full […]
THINGS TO WATCH FOR IN 2014
It is always dangerous to make predictions, especially for an entire year. However, reasoned judgments should be considered for their potential impact on investments. Here are our thoughts going into the New Year: General Thoughts: 1) There will be more turmoil in the Middle East as Sunni and Shia Muslims escalate their fights against each […]
THE ONE CONSTANT IN INVESTING – HUMAN EMOTION: GREED AND FEAR
This time it’s different!!! With almost three decades of investment experience, we have heard this phrase many times throughout the years. Every market run and collapse is different (i.e., technology boom, mortgage collapse, black Friday, real estate boom, to name a few), but there is one constant among all of them – human emotion. Human […]
INFLATION – WHY THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS WRONG
When talking with clients about inflation, nearly all of our conversations include examples that run completely counter to our government’s ongoing reports that inflation remains low here in the US. We see many different examples that show inflation is not as low as the government would like us to believe including: 1) an increase in […]
WILL THE FED PUMP CONTINUE?
As we await a resolution of the debt ceiling and government shut down, current discussions center on allowing Congress a few more months to come up with a solution. Simply put, our illustrious politicians appear set on kicking the can further down the road. If this path continues, it is our belief that it […]