January 2017 CoreLogic Home Prices Year-over-Year Growth Rate Now 6.9%.
CoreLogic’s Home Price Index (HPI) shows that home prices in the USA are up 6.9 % year-over-year year-over-year (reported up 0.7 % month-over-month). Last month’s 7.2 % year-over-year gain was revised downward to 6.3 %. CoreLogic HPI is used in the Federal Reserves’ Flow of Funds to calculate the values of residential real estate. Analyst […]
Gold Investing 101 – Beware Ebay, Collectibles And “Pure” Gold Coins That Are Gold Plated – Part 1
Investors looking to gold again but gold buyers need to exert caution ‘Wolves of Wall Street’ ready to hungrily gobble up life savings of unsuspecting ‘widows and orphans’ Like all markets are few bad apples in gold market Need to do due diligence on company buying from Avoid companies marketing gold plated coins as “pure […]
US Consumer Spending Highest Since 2008 As Economic Confidence Hits Record High: Gallup
Perhaps it is the last hurrah of the Trump post-election euphoriabut according to Gallup there were two notable development in February. First, Americans’ daily self-reports of spending climbed to an average of $101 in February. This, Gallup reports, was the highest average for the month of February since 2008, when spending averaged $106. The latest monthly […]
Can A Retirement Plan Have Too Much Risk Management?
The issue of excess has been on my mind lately, mostly focused on my fragrance collection but now expanding to the topic of investment risk management. More specifically, as I continue to lead workshops about retirement plan risk management for the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (“PRMIA”), I am pondering whether too much of a so-called “good […]
The Challenges Of Standard Portfolio Diversification
Last week on my podcast, I had the opportunity to interview Vinay Nair, a Wharton professor and co-founder of the firm 55 Capital Partners. Nair’s research sits at the intersection of macroeconomic and corporate fundamental factors and how they tie into capital market prices. Tying his academic research—investing science—in with investment solutions and that work has led […]
Healthcare ETFs In Focus On Obamacare Replacement Plan
Healthcare was the top-performing sector of February and is in the spotlight given President Donald Trump’s healthcare overhaul efforts. Trump promised to reduce federal regulations by 75–80% and streamline the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. This will make it easier for biotech and pharma companies to introduce products to the market. The major […]
Gold & Bank Stock Lovebirds
A week ago I talked about the “need to bleed” for gold stocks. Since then, it could be said that the blood has flowed with gusto. Until the March 15 FOMC meeting is out of the way, gold and associated investments will be vulnerable against the dollar. As Chinese new year celebrations waned in February, GDX began […]
EC Do Record Eurodollar Balances Matter? Not Even Slightly
The BIS in its quarterly review published yesterday included a reference to the eurodollar market (thanks to M. Daya for pointing it out). The central bank to central banks, as the outfit is often called, is one of the few official institutions that have taken a more objective position with regard to the global money system. Of […]
E Miners Are Bouncing
Miners are bouncing a bit today, but it’s unclear if prices bottomed. Volatility is high. I’d wait for signs of a bottom before attempting short-term long positions. -GDX- I’m seeing some buying coming into miners this morning. I’m not sure if it will continue, but a daily close above $22.12 (yesterday’s high) would make a […]
Signet Slips As Citi Cautious, Discrimination Headlines Continue
Shares of Signet Jewelers (SIG), the owner of Kay Jewelers and Jared, are slipping after Citi analyst Paul Lejuez cut his price target on the stock and said caution is warranted heading into earnings. The company has been making headlines amid reports of a class action lawsuit accusing its leaders of presiding over a culture […]
