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Article Index

Dow Jones Erases 2012 Gains - What's Next?

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

The "sell in May and go away" approach panned out this year as the month was not merry for markets.

U.S. equities experienced a steep drop during May, enduring the worst monthly declines in two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.2%.

A good part of May's decline was blamed on the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis that has swelled of late and shattered investors' confidence. But things on the home front are far from ideal.

The flight from stocks flowed into the first day of June. The Dow plunged 274 points Friday, erasing all of the year's gains. Fueling Friday's fall was May's dreadful U.S. jobs report, which showed employers added just a trifling 69,000 in payrolls, less than half the expected 150,000.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index and Nasdaq both plummeted more than 2%. The Nasdaq has given back more than 10% since its late-March peak.

Traders consider a 10% drop to be a market correction. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is just a mere point above correction territory.

Just 17 of the 500 companies in the S&P index ended higher on Friday.

"The big worry now is that this economic slowdown is widening and accelerating," Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at market research firm S&P Capital IQ, told the Associated Press.

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Five with Fitz: What I See When I Look Over the Horizon

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -

When you've been working the markets as long as I have, you learn that the biggest dangers are always found in a place just over the horizon.

It's why I spend my time hunting for stories, news items and opinions that in the old days were considered far "below the fold."

Invariably, what I am looking for is the stuff that everybody else has missed.

Because I believe that's where the real information is -- especially when it comes to uncovering profitable opportunities others don't yet see or understand.

It's the story behind the story that interests me. To find it, you need to go beyond the headline news.

In that spirit, here's my take on five things that I'm thinking about right now.

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Why the Eurozone Debt Crisis Never Really Went Away

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning • @DavidGZeiler -

How many times have we been told the Eurozone debt crisis is resolved, only to have it turn up again like a bad penny?

Last year's string of good news/ bad news on the Eurozone debt crisis had the markets going up and down like a yo-yo until the routine grew so tiresome that most people stopped paying attention.

But while the crisis faded into the background, it never really went way.

Remedies that were sold as solutions haven't solved a thing.

The celebrated bailouts of countries like Portugal, Ireland, and especially Greece have served mainly to postpone real solutions that would be far more painful.

"The Eurozone politicians in their infinite wisdom have concluded that it is easier to prolong the agony than to take their medicine," said Money Morning Chief Investment strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald.

In fact, the Eurozone debt crisis is getting worse.

Collective debt among the 17 member nations is on the rise, having increased from 85.3% of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2010 to 87.2% last year. That's the highest level in the history of the Eurozone.

Unemployment in the Eurozone rose in March to 10.9%, up from 10.8% in February and 9.9% a year ago. Manufacturing also declined last month, as new orders fell for the 11th month in a row.

And the austerity imposed on the troubled PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) to bring their budget deficits and debts under control have actually made the situation worse.

"It's done no good at all," Fitz-Gerald said of the Eurozone's efforts to deal with the debt crisis. "It's an absolute travesty."

The steep and sudden cuts in spending are pushing most of Europe back into a recession, which will eventually be felt here at home.



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Five Savvy Ways to Conquer the Wall of Worry

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -


If you like extreme risk and consider living on the edge to be "normal," today's column isn't for you.

Today I'm writing to the millions of investors who are completely terrified by the prospect of what's next and who simply want their faith restored - not to mention their investments.

To all of them I would say: You are not alone and you're not wrong to be apprehensive.

Our political situation is an embarrassing train wreck, our national debt looks like a one way trip to financial hell, housing remains in the dungeon, unemployment is unacceptably high and Europe...oh Europe.

It's nothing short of a gigantic wall of worry.

Plus, there have been so many attempts to "fix" things that I've lost count. Throwing good money after bad is a fool's game and one that will have very real and inevitable consequences.

So what should investors do?

The Fed's War on Capitalism

Here's how I see things. The "Whitewash Ministry" has basically five options:

  1. Repression
  2. Devaluation
  3. Austerity
  4. Deflation
  5. Inflation
You can forget the double "d's" - devaluation and deflation.

Even though both would be the proper way for free markets to bleed out the excesses of the past, they are essentially political nukes and nobody has the willpower to touch either one of them.

The third, austerity, is being tried but only halfheartedly. Our leaders have no idea what this actually means. Since they remain completely unaccountable, there is no true incentive.

Besides, large numbers of people have figured out it's easier to be on the dole than it is to actually work, so this is another disincentive for meaningful cuts in spending.

As for inflation, this too is officially a non-starter as long as interest rates are held near zero. Unofficially, it's a different story. Most investors I know are feeling the heat of 12% to 15% a year in their wallets.

That leaves option number one - repression.

You can call it what you want, but repression is really a fancy way of saying that our government is conducting punitive monetary policy.

While they mouth off about how they want to create jobs and take care of the middle class, in reality they're eviscerating it.

How?

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If You're Out of Work Blame Your Cell Phone

By , Global Investing Specialist, Money Morning -

Times are tough out there.

We would like to blame China, incompetent politicians, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the banking system, or some unseen forces for this phenomenon.

But in reality, the answer is no further than our pockets. The real culprit is your cell phone.

The arrival of these gadgets changed everything...

That's because before the cell phone boom, it was very difficult to run an efficient international outsourcing operation. Until then, there were no means of communicating between different offices other than fax, telex, and the balky international telephone system.

Consequently, these communication barriers made manufacturing products overseas cumbersome and expensive.

And since there were relatively few outsourcing operations at the time, there was also an acute shortage of skilled employees in poor countries, making a difficult situation even worse.

As for competition, there wasn't much. That meant the jobs of workers in rich countries were still relatively secure.

But not for long.

Starting in 1995, the Internet and the modern telecommunications revolution changed everything.

The Race to the Bottom

Suddenly, these same barriers began to come down. The job market was changed forever.
Now it was possible to communicate on a real-time basis with factory or service operations in poor countries all across the globe. Outsourcing had been born.

At about the same time, the retail behemoth Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) discovered a China and the price advantage it could gain by manufacturing goods overseas. Wal-Mart's new world began to take shape.

Goods could now be designed by Wal-Mart, made to Wal-Mart's specifications and delivered to Wal-Mart stores in just a few weeks, enabling the retail giant to keep up with trends in fast-moving markets.

The rest, as they say, is history.

There was only one problem. This sea of change wasn't self-limiting.

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Stock Market Bulls Have Bears on the Run Despite Poor Unemployment Report

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

Stocks survived a big test of the winter rally on Friday as they finished a positive week with mild losses.

The Friday session featured a report on non-farm payrolls that came in worse than expected, but not egregiously so. Energy, industrials and utilities fared the best, while financials and telecoms slipped the most. Treasuries blew higher across the board, showing again why we always say that the bonds love misery.

Earlier in the week, I forecast that a disappointing payroll number and a modestly negative reaction would be the best possible result for bulls for three reasons: a) it maintains pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low and to continue buying assets; b) it keeps pressure on the new Congress to keep up the pace of fiscal spending; and c) it provides a mildly oversold technical condition that provides a better base from which to rally later in the month.



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No Rest for the Weary: Unemployment to Remain High Through 2011 and Beyond

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

Stocks are up nearly 70% from their bear market lows. Corporate profits are rising. And the economy is expanding. Yet the unemployment rate continues to hover around 10%.

Neither President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus program, nor the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing has generated enough good news to convince companies to hire meaningful numbers of new workers.

Of the 8.7 million people who lost their jobs during the recession, more than 7.3 million are still without work. There are still nearly five job seekers for every job opening. In fact, adding in workers who are working part time but looking for full-time work and those who have given up looking all together brings the "real" unemployment rate to a staggering 17% compared to 16.5% last year, the latest government report shows.

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