Category: INO.com Contributors

Here's The Real Comeback Sector of 2015

Posted on by Daniel Cross

Daniel Cross - INO.com Contributor - Equities


If you look at the major averages, stocks haven't done well so far this year. After a solid showing in
2014, The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.06% and the S&P 500 is down 0.91% year-to-date.

But it's not all doom and gloom for all stocks. Take a look at the NASDAQ so far this year – up 2.40%.

CompQ 2015 Chart

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com

On the surface it may seem as if the difference in performance can be attributed to the fact the the NASDAQ is heavily weighted in tech stocks, but that's not the case. Continue reading "Here's The Real Comeback Sector of 2015" →

Sometimes You Get No Respect

Posted on by George Yacik

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


Ocwen Financial Corp. just can’t catch a break.

A recent research report says it does a better job than its competitors of modifying mortgages for struggling homeowners to enable them to stay in their homes. At the same time, some of its bondholders are complaining it does too many modifications at their expense. All along, the company has been the focus of state and federal regulators and consumer groups for supposedly abusing the subprime borrowers it services.

Which is it? Can all of this be true? Continue reading "Sometimes You Get No Respect" →

Sterling by the Charts

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor - Forex


The UK economy, it seems, has been a study in opposites. It has swung from having been the fastest to the slowest, from experiencing high growth and then sluggishness, from moving from a high inflation environment to a low inflation environment. The UK economy is the great dichotomy, comprised of fading expectations and the bursting of optimistic sentiment that together carves the path of the Pound Sterling, a path that is as shaky now as it ever was and which, it seems, has been broken just this week.

Sterling Not Coming Back?

Looking at the chart below, we can tell much about the governing dynamics of Sterling buyers and sellers. Dips in the Sterling trade vs the Dollar were plentiful; back in 2009, when the crisis was at its climax, back in 2010, when UK growth was pegged as just “sluggish,” and then back in 2013, when it seemed the UK economy had finally lost all steam. Yet each and every time Sterling buyers emerged; in fact, not only did they emerge and crowd back into what they deemed an undervalued currency, but each time they emerged at a higher point, painting a picture of a fragile but steadily ascending path for the Pound vs the Dollar. Yet as the latest point on the chart shows, at this point in time the buyers have not re-emerged, letting the Pound break its ascending path. Why, this time in particular, are Sterling buyers not coming back? Continue reading "Sterling by the Charts" →

Apple + Dow Jones = Better Apple Exposure (Part 1)

Posted on by Matt Thalman

Matt Thalman - INO.com Contributor - ETFs


On February 20, I wrote an article discussing how a number of ETFs were massively overweight Apple Inc. (AAPL), leaving investors with too much exposure to the world's largest company. While I believe Apple is a wonderful company to own, as I am a shareholder, unknowingly investors could very easily be overly exposed to just one company. If you are buying an ETF, mutual fund or index fund it is likely because that one purchase diversifies your investment. But because these funds are so overweight Apple, you may not be as diversified as you may think. Luckily though, the announcement that Apple will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average is sign that investors will have the ability to still buy index funds and not have to worry about being overly exposed to Apple.

Before we get into why Apple joining the Dow is a good thing, let's discuss why Apple is so overweight in different funds available.

The wide majority of mutual funds, ETFs, or simply investors in general, measure their yearly performance by comparing it to the performance of the S&P 500, I have even recommended this. For mutual fund or ETF managers the issue arises from this because they need to have their portfolios perform similar to the S&P 500, or clients will begin defecting from their fund to find greener pastures, in most cases a fund manager who has outperformed or at the very least matched the S&P 500 performance. Continue reading "Apple + Dow Jones = Better Apple Exposure (Part 1)" →

Moving America's Economy: The Stealth Food Market

Posted on by Daniel Cross

Daniel Cross - INO.com Contributor - Equities


If there's one business that will continue to expand regardless of the state of the economy, it's food production. Agricultural demands go hand-in-hand with the booming global population. As more land becomes necessary to feed the population, the ability to refine the process and make food production more efficient per acre while remaining environmentally and biologically friendly becomes of paramount importance.

Despite the fall in energy costs for the consumer, food prices continue to climb. Agribusiness is generally uncorrelated to the general stock market because of exogenous influences like the weather. Harsher-than-expected winter storms, droughts, and other meteorological phenomena can have a big impact on the final cost of products when they hit the shelf at the grocery store.
Continue reading "Moving America's Economy: The Stealth Food Market" →