Category Archive: Finance
We’re Just Trying To Feed Our Families” – Equifax Hackers Demand $2.6 Million Ransom In Bitcoin
Two days after credit-monitoring company Equifax revealed that, because of its staggering negligence, hackers had managed to penetrate the company’s meager cybersecurity defenses and abscond with up to 143 million social security numbers and a trove of other personal data – including names, addresses, driver’s license data, birth dates and credit-card numbers – the cyberthieves […]
IBM Stock Has Dropped 20%. Is It A Play For Value Investors?
IBM (NYSE: IBM) stock used to be the darling of Wall Street. For most of our grandparents and even some of our parents, IBM was a staple stock in their portfolio. You could always count on Big Blue to grow revenues, grow its stock price, and pay out a healthy dividend. But times have changed. Thanks […]
North Korea Nuclear Test: Did The Markets Notice?
In this week’s edition of Market Week in Review, Rob Cittadini, regional director, consultant relations, interviewed Mark Eibel, director, client investment strategies, on the latest round of geopolitical news and its impact on financial markets. North Korea testing, U.S. debt ceiling extension move markets North Korea’s announcement of another nuclear test over the U.S. Labor […]
Signs, Signs, Everywhere A Sign
Last week, I noted: “I have a sneaky suspicion that when I update the Fed Balance Sheet reinvestment analysis next week, shown below, we are going to find a substantial, well-timed, reinvestment by the Central Bank. Wanna bet?” Well, here is the updated chart of the 4-week net change to the Fed’s balance sheet. As […]
E US Dollar Confirms Intermediate-Term Breakdown
In early August, we observed that the US Dollar index was on the verge of a meaningful breakdown. Our technical analysis suggested that a weekly close below the congestion support level in the 93 area would likely be followed by a resumption of the downtrend from early 2017. This week, the index moved sharply lower, […]
Bi-Weekly Economic Review: Saturday, Sept. 9
The economic reports of the last two weeks were not as bad as the market moves they precipitated. That could be due to other factors such as Hurricane Harvey and its impact on the energy industry or the now fairly normal political chaos that is the Trump administration. Whatever the cause, the market based indicators […]
W.W. Grainger: 46 Straight Years Of Dividend Growth And An All-Time High Yield
Industrial component wholesaler W.W. Grainger (GWW), with 46 consecutive years of rising dividends, is one of the venerable dividend aristocrats. Even more impressive is that Grainger has rewarded long-term dividend investors with impressive 11.5% annual dividend growth over the last three decades. Let’s take a closer look at this dividend aristocrat to see whether or not it […]
Buying Insurance Stocks On Near Term Weakness
Earlier this year I wrote a post titled, “Insuring Your Portfolio With Insurance Stocks,” as I discussed the relatively boring nature of the industry, specifically the property and casualty insurance space. I mentioned how this boring sector is tempered by its stability and predictability in terms of measured growth and it being a potential reliable […]
USDJPY Headed For 106?
With Hurricane Irma set to wreck havoc on Southern states in the U.S., USD/JPY broke through 108. No U.S. economic reports were released on Friday but the greenback has been tracking 10 year Treasury yields which dropped to their lowest level in 10 months. At the start of the week we talked about how Harvey, […]
Will The MAGA ETF Make Your Portfolio Great?
It seemed like just a matter of time before an ETF such as this hit the marketplace. There are ETFs that allow you to invest in drone technology, whiskey producers, video games and Catholic values. So it shouldn’t be surprising that you can now invest based on political views. The Point Bridge GOP Stock Tracker ETF (MAGA) launched this week with the […]
