Archives for June 2010

June 2010 - Page 9 of 11 - Money Morning - Only the News You Can Profit From

Taipan Daily: Spoiling Wall Street's Surprise

by

Sometimes I don't know whether to excoriate the Wall Street/Washington axis for its constant efforts at obfuscation – or thank it for all the smoke and mirrors.

Yes, there is something deeply troubling about a culture so utterly dedicated to the manipulation of facts. But then again, these distortions introduce exactly the sort of information gaps that power the most lucrative trading opportunities.

For example, we have recently read that British Petroleum (BP) – mired armpit deep in a cesspool of oil of unknown size and depth, and fully aware that it will be sued continuously unto the next generation – is rewarding loyal investors with a billion-dollar dividend and spending something like $100 million on a public relations campaign to somehow obscure its culpability and rescue its reputation.

Read More…

Global Airline Industry Rebounds, Will See Profit in 2010 From Recovering Economy

by

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) yesterday (Monday) raised its airline industry outlook and now expects airlines to post a $2.5 billion profit in 2010, recovering from two years of ailing business.

The IATA said increasing passenger travel, a climb in cargo trade, and effective cost cutting measures will contribute to accelerating the industry's rebound.

"The global economy is recovering from the depths of the financial crisis much more quickly than could have been anticipated. Airlines are benefiting from a strong traffic rebound that is pushing the industry into the black," IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani said.

Previous industry predictions forecast a $2.8 billion loss. However the IATA revised its expectations for passenger traffic and cargo volume. Passenger traffic will grow 7.1% this year, up from the IATA's original prediction of 5.6%, and cargo volume will grow by 18.5%, up from the earlier estimate of 12%. Total revenue for the industry will be about $545 billion, up 13% from $483 billion in 2009, the group said.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the industry's outlook Monday to stable from negative, saying they "expect profitability in the global airline sector to improve as we gain distance from the 2009 trough of the recession."

Bisignani cautioned that the recovery is fragile and that labor unions must prepare for more budget reductions.

Read More…

Capital Wave Investing: How to Transform These Four Global Threats Into Portfolio Profits

by

U.S. investors can be excused for feeling as if the sky is falling right now. After all, there are a lot of falling objects crushing investor sentiment, consumer confidence, financial portfolios – and any hope that the U.S. stock market can generate the kind of returns that will ever make investors whole again.

But take heart: Even during a period that seems to be this dark, investors need to remember that all is not lost. Even with the threats that seem to dominate, the world now offers a new investing horizon – filled with new opportunities. Instead of staring into the abyss of an unknown future, investors can profit handsomely by identifying the key capital waves and macro trends and then using that knowledge to rebuild their portfolios from the top down.

Before that portfolio overhaul can begin, however, investors need to understand the specific challenges that they face in today's global stock markets.

To understand the top capital-wave-investing plays - read on...

Defensive Investing: The Eight Ways to Tell If You Should Hold - or Fold - Your Mutual Fund

by

With the whipsaw patterns U.S. stocks have experienced in recent weeks – both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Index are down 12% from their highs for the year – even the most ardent buy-and-hold investors are studying their portfolios, searching for holdings to cull.

But what if your buy-and-hold strategy has been implemented using mutual funds? As part of a solid "defensive-investing" review, should you consider bailing out of your current mutual-fund holdings at this point and start looking for better funds to ride into any future recovery?

Read More…

Defensive Investing: Four Reasons to Sell a Mutual Fund Laggard

by

When it comes to poor performance in a mutual fund, how long is too long?

Evaluating the performance of a mutual fund is a bit different than evaluating the performance of an individual stock, chiefly because of the time frames involved. Mutual-fund investors should actually evaluate the performances of the funds they hold over a longer time period than they might use to gauge the returns generated by a stock.

Let's face it: Six-month or one-year returns on a mutual fund aren't terribly significant in a long-term portfolio that is based on a well-conceived allocation plan. Short-term weakness could just be a sign that the particular sector in which a fund invests -; or even the fund's particular investing style (growth, value or momentum, for instance) -; is currently out of favor.

Read More…

Defensive Investing: Eight Ways to Tell if Your Mutual Fund Still Fits You

by

With the whipsaw patterns U.S. stocks have experienced in recent weeks – both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's 500 Index are down 12% from their highs for the year – even the most ardent buy-and-hold investors are studying their portfolios, searching for holdings to cull.

But what if your buy-and-hold strategy has been implemented using mutual funds? As part of a solid "defensive-investing" review, should you consider bailing out of your current mutual-fund holdings at this point and looking for better funds to ride into any future recovery?

You'll only know if you take the time to make the review. And you should take that time.

Read More…

Why U.S. Stocks Will Rise Above Weak Growth in Global Markets

by

After another lousy week, it's official: Global markets have suffered the worst late-spring setback since 1940 — a May-June period when the Germans invaded the Netherlands, then marched into Paris, and Italy declared war on France and Great Britain. Just like that, seven decades ago, World War II was on, and markets went into freefall.

If stocks are as good at anticipating global calamity this time as they were in that horrible spring 70 years ago, we may be in for a terrible second half.

It's a bitter irony that so many of those old enmities are flaring up again on the Continent at this critical time. The European Union was created two decades ago at behest of the former Allies to prevent the Continent from sliding into armed conflict again, and the euro currency was later launched to cement the new political relationship.

But many centuries of deep-seated distrust are hard to negate with diplomacy and idealistic optimism, and now we see Europeans back at each others' throats in a flurry of recriminations over who is to blame for outrageous deficits, debts and defaults in the Eurozone — and more importantly, who should pay for them.

To read about how Europe's turmoil could affect the U.S. economy, click here.

Buy, Sell or Hold: TransCanada Corp.'s (NYSE: TRP) Low Risk and High Dividend Yield Break the Waves of Uncertainty

by

The U.S. stock market has been choppy these past few weeks and it's no secret why.

The European debt crisis is taking center stage and eliciting strong policy responses from key European governments. And while those policy responses have moved in the right direction, we're still waiting on sustainable progress.

In addition, we are dealing with the uncertainties related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which could have very important economic and financial implications.  As if this were not enough, we saw an escalation of the rhetoric in the seemingly endless animosities between North and South Korea, and Hamas and Israel.  And Iran continues to pursue a nuclear arsenal.

Read More…

This Weekend's G-20 Meeting Won't Bring Any Answers on Financial Regulation

by

Finance ministers from the Group of 20  (G-20) nations this weekend will attempt to reach a compromise on the implementation of stricter banking regulations at a meeting in Busan, South Korea. However, significant changes to financial regulation will come slow, if at all.

The meeting will start late Friday and will involve discussions about how to reduce deficits and prepare financial institutions for a wider set of rules.

"Sustaining world economic growth is the most important item on the G-20 agenda this weekend," said U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. "Countries with high budget deficits must show that they can deal with them. Equally, surplus countries, such as China, must show that they too can support economic growth going forward."

Read More…

The Case for $5,000 Gold: And How to Profit

by

The gold bug is unstoppable. Prices are up four-fold since 2001… and they're not stopping anytime soon. Could $5,000 per ounce be in our future? Read this report to find out why gold is being pushed through the roof – and four ways to profit from gold's rise.

Read More…