With residential real estate having been on a downturn, some readers have asked how they could play the short side of the real estate market. The bad news is that there is no ETF currently on the market that mirrors residential real estate activity. However, if commercial real estate is doomed to follow the same downward trend, there is a …
ETF Investing: Value And The Bear Market
When markets begin to slide, or even slip into bear market territory, you will find many ‘experts’ in the media and on TV announcing a variety of investments deemed to be a good bargain at that particular time. It’s like everybody has a compulsive obsession with the need of having to be invested in something at all times. The lesson …
Subprime Reality Check
If you have been reading my posts over the past few months, you will have noticed that I have spent considerable time to write about and make references to the Subprime credit/crisis. The reason is not that I have suddenly become a pessimist. It was more like a realistic awakening that the markets are still exposed to an ever growing …
The Frustrated Investor
The month of November definitely took an emotional toll on all investors including the professionals. Although we use a methodical approach via our trend lines and trailing sell stops, volatile markets at an inflection point can shake anybody’s confidence and/or conviction. An anonymous reader responded to last Saturday’s post as follows: “It seems that it is always something unexpected that …
Sunday Musings: When Genius Failed
Last week, I finished reading a fascinating book called “When Genius Failed” by Roger Lowenstein. It captures the roller-coaster ride of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) from 1993 to 1998. Back then, LTCP was hailed as the most impressive hedge fund in history. Led by the notoriously successful bond arbitrageur John Meriwether, the firm boasted a partnership that included two Nobel-Price-winning …
Subprime Bailout
Sure, leave it up to the government to come up with a questionable plan to solve part of the Subprime crisis by proposing a temporary freeze on scheduled interest rate increases for certain home owners. Michael Shedlock’s article “Temporary Mortgage Freeze Is Doomed” sheds some light on the plan and its implications. Affected will be certain borrowers who had chosen …