Category: Story of Interest

The phenomenal growth of bitcoin has had at least one important consequence – it has helped shed light on money laundering, according to Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, Inc. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Fink said that the digital currency has helped to illustrate the extent of money laundering in the world. “It just identifies how much money laundering there is being done in the world,” he said. “How much people are trying to move currencies from one place to another.” While he is a “big believer” in the potential of cryptocurrencies​, Fink is not enthusiastic about current market conditions. “What we are talking about today is speculation,” he explained. In particular, he pointed to the “systemic risk” inherent in bitcoin and digital currencies that makes them vulnerable to speculation and hacks. Unlike its competitors in the asset management industry, Blackrock has not announced initiatives related to bitcoin and blockchain​, the underlying technology platform powering the currency. “We are not hearing that … Continue reading BlackRock CEO Is ‘Big Believer’ in Bitcoin and Blockchain

A large majority of Wall Street strategists expect the bulls to continue their stampede through the second half of 2017, CNBC reports. In fact, 14 of the 23 strategists surveyed by CNBC forecast the S&P 500 Index (SPX) to rise at least another 5% over the rest of the year, which would bring the widely-followed market barometer above 2,550 by year-end. This would put the full-year gain at about 14%, well above the average annual increase of 8.6% for the years since 1946, per data from independent research firm CFRA cited by CNBC. When asked to name their favourite sectors for the second half, the strategists made finance their top pick, despite the under-performance of bank stocks so far this year, CNBC says. While the strategists were not asked to name specific companies, big players such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. ,Bank of America Corp. Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley recently gained favourable … Continue reading Banks, Techs Will Lead 2nd Half, Strategists Say

Looking for attractively valued alternatives to U.S. equities, investors continue to show enthusiasm for developed market stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). That enthusiasm was on display last week, as highlighted by a a flurry of inflows to ETFs tracking the widely followed MSCI EAFE Index and related benchmarks. For the week that ended June 22, five of the top 10 asset-gathering ETFs were developed market funds tracking the MSCI EAFE Index or an equivalent index, along with an ETF that is a direct competitor to those funds. During the week that ended June 22, the iShares MSCI EAFE ETF, the largest ex-U.S. developed markets ETF and one of the largest equity-based ETFs of any variety, added $1.13 billion in new assets. That brings EFA’s second quarter inflows to just over $6.1 billion – a total surpassed by just one other ETF. Not to be outdone, at least not by much, is EFA’s low-cost counterpart, the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF. … Continue reading The Rush to Developed Markets ETFs Continues

As a sign of vulnerability in the (so far) high-flying technology sector, many of the biggest names tumbled towards earth on Friday. Among the so-called FAANG five, the declines for the day were: Facebook Inc, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc. Netflix Inc, 4.7%, and the parent of Google, Alphabet Inc. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index shed 2.4% of its value on Friday, per data from Nasdaq, while the tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100 were off by 3.6%, also per Nasdaq. As a point of comparison, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) dipped by less than 0.1%. Eggs in One Basket On Thursday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, a division of Bank of America Corp, released a report indicating that the tech sector offers both risks and opportunities for investors. In May, tech was both the best-performing S&P 500 sector and the one whose price-earnings (P/E) ratio increased the most, according to Merrill Lynch. At approximately 19x as of the report’s … Continue reading Tech Stocks May Be Both Cheap and Risky

India exchange-traded funds (ETFs ) are comprised of securities traded in India. This is an emerging market play, meaning it carries higher risk than more mature markets carry. India’s economy is growing, but is not entirely stable and could be subject to volatility. The higher risk can mean higher returns, as each of the ETFs on our list shows. We have selected India ETFs that have the highest year-to-date returns of all India ETFs. An India ETF is not a buy-and-hold investment. You must consistently monitor not only each ETF’s performance, but also the condition of the economy in India. Here are the top 5 India ETFs by year-to-date returns as of May 26, 2017. Direxion Daily MSCI India Bull 3x ETF INDL uses the MSCI India Index as its benchmark. While it aims to invest 80% of its assets in securities from the index, the other 20% may be … Continue reading Top 5 Indian ETFs for 2017

By Aaron Hankin Prior stock market crashes saw hedge fund portfolios skewed to a small sector of stocks. Market concentration propped up overall stocks, and once they cracked so did the entire market. Today, hedge funds are holding more equities but over a fewer number of stocks. The much talked about FANG or FAANG (to include Apple) stocks dominate the Goldman Sachs VIP Index with four of them filling the top six spots. Three of them – Facebook Inc (Facebook Inc, FB, 152.13,+0.11%), Apple Inc Sir John Templeton once said, “bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.” Knowing where we are on the spectrum is the eternal question for investors. Signs a bull market is over has varied from peak to peak, from the housing bubble and subprime mortgage crisis of 2007-08 to the tech bubble on the late 1990s. However, … Continue reading Is the End of The Bull Market Near?

By David Cay Johnston  Recklessly firing FBI Director Jim Comey eliminated any remaining doubt: Donald Trump and his administration cannot be trusted to have any role in investigating his and his entourage’s relationship with Russia and Russians. Yet he is about to seize control of that probe, while the Republican-controlled Congress acts less like a coequal branch of government and more like a White House subsidiary. Compounding this, the White House’s efforts Monday to deceive the American public about the president giving Russia super-secret intelligence only add to the reasons to distrust his competence, integrity and, indeed, suspect his loyalty. The day after firing Comey, the Washington Post reported Monday, President Trump gave Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak information we received from Israel – who may not care to share such information again – so secret we had not shared it with our closest … Continue reading Opinion: Donald Trump Is a Clear and Present Danger

“It is the best investment of my life” said billionaire Mike Novogratz at an April 19 Harvard Business School Club of NY event, where he announced that he holds ten percent of his net worth in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin​ and Ethereum. Mike Novogratz was the Chief Investment Officer of the Fortress Macro Fund, and a principal and member of the board of directors of Fortress Investment Group LLC. Novogratz joined Fortress after a decade long tenure at Goldman Sachs. He featured on the Forbes billionaire list in 2008. While clearer revelations on his investment in cryptocurrencies​ have come out now, his interest in cryptocurrencies isn’t new. He has been advocating for Bitcoin as a good investment since 2013. Bitcoin’s journey has been incredible. It started trading at around $0.0007 per bitcoin in the beginning of 2009 and about two years later, it hit parity with the dollar. While the year … Continue reading More Billionaires Are Buying Cryptocurrencies

The world’s largest consumer products maker, Procter & Gamble Co and American household goods and personal products leader Colgate-Palmolive Co have both seen their shares dip on quarterly results this week as sales numbers fell short of forecasts. Last week, European-based Unilever and Nestle  both posted better-than-expected sales numbers and noted improved pricing dynamics, yet saw their results weighed down by cautious spending in the U.S. and Western Europe. Unilever, the London-based consumer goods leader and the world’s largest food company, relied largely on emerging markets in the recent quarter. Procter & Gamble Shares of Cincinnati-based P&G slipped Wednesday after the company posted earnings that surpassed bottom-line estimates yet failed to meet top-line forecasts. The global consumer products giant posted fiscal third-quarter adjusted earnings of $0.96 per share, up 12% over last year and higher than the Street’s forecasts for $0.94. In the period ended March 31, P&G saw sales … Continue reading Consumer Staples Disappoint This Week

By Adam Hayes, CFA The Federal Reserve and other major central banks are under pressure to reduce their balance sheets, but doing so poses a risk of provoking another taper tantrum of epic proportions. If major world banks in the U.S. Europe and Japan don’t properly coordinate and execute the unwinding of some $13 trillion in assets built up since 2008, risk assets including stocks and mortgage-backed securities could sell off in a fire sale that would leave many investors – large and small – burned. In the worst-case scenario, the economic recovery, which is looking robust for the first time in a decade, might be at risk. Bloated Balance Sheets Following the financial crisis of 2008 that marked the start of the Great Recession, central banks around the world engaged in monetary policy efforts to stabilize their domestic and the global economy. Unorthodox policy tools such as quantitative easing … Continue reading Central Banks’ $13 Trillion Problem