The political consensus may be that President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy has been weak. The judgment of money in all its forms has been overwhelmingly positive, and that may be the more lasting appraisal.
One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen [...]

dollar, recovery, stock market, US Hide

AS COMPANIES in the alternative energy sector took a hit during the downturn for reasons that are no longer front and centre, they will once again be a key investment theme this year.
So said Lars Kalbreier, Credit Suisse’s Zurich-based global head of equity and alternatives research at a media briefing yesterday.
Valuations are now attractive for [...]

commodity, forex, investments, stock market Hide

HE markets for most risk-related trades, from equities to oil to commodity currencies, are likely to push higher in the first quarter on ultra-low interest rates, still ample liquidity, and continued economic recovery.
The key factors that are likely to determine whether the rally continues in 2010 include economic recovery, liquidity, interest rates, corporate earnings and [...]

commodity, forex, stock market, trading strategy Hide

Are overly bullish investors blindly driving stocks higher and taking you for a ride?
After weak earnings from Alcoa [AA  15.52   -1.93  (-11.06%)   ]and a warning from Chevron [CVX  80.36   -0.52  (-0.64%)   ], investors are starting to worry that all is not right on Wall Street.
Doug Kass of Seabreeze is among the growing number of strategists that thinks there’s much more to lose [...]

commodity, Interest rates, stock market, trading strategy, unemployment, US Hide

The U.S. economy will slip back into recession in the second and third quarter of 2010 as the boost from fiscal stimulus measures and inventory rebuilding wears off, James Shugg, senior economist at Westpac Bank, told CNBC Wednesday.
“In the second half of this year, starting in the second quarter, a bit of a mismatch is [...]

recession, stock market, trading strategy, US Hide

SHANGHAI: China said on Monday it would soon launch a stock index covering 500 firms listed in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan to enhance financial cooperation in the Greater China region.
China Securities Index Co, established by the mainland’s two bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen, will start to publish the CSI Cross-Straits 500 Index [...]

China, currency, investments, stock market Hide

Wall Street’s first test of the new year and decade could well be whether investors are following each other over a cliff.
Following a year that featured a violent stock rally led mainly by institutional investors and traders, 2010 begins with new signs that retail investors are beginning to buy into a better future for stocks.
While [...]

consumers, earnings, stock market, US Hide

THE growth rate of Singapore’s economy will not return to levels seen before the recent economic downturn any time soon, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday. In his speech at a bursary award ceremony at Townsville Primary School, PM Lee said that while Singapore is emerging from the downturn, he does not expect gross [...]

growth, Singapore, stock market Hide

EVERYONE said 2009 was going to be bad for stocks. But hey, on average, the regional markets have gone up 60% year to date. Investors who had been pessimistic have missed out, but is there a still a chance for them to make the same kind of profits?
With the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite [...]

caution, inflation, Interest rates, investments, Malaysia, stock market Hide

It was the age of zeroes, the epoch of naughts, an era when we started with something and added just about nothing.
At least that’s what stock market commentators have been gravely telling us for at least a year.
The 2000s, they argue, was a lost decade. And at first glance, they appear to have gotten it [...]

bonds, diversification, investment returns, investments, savings, stock market Hide