Salient to Investors: Shares of discount brokers are gaining the most since 2003 relative to the S&P 500, a sign that small investors are joining the 4-year bull market. Discount broker stocks beat the market by at least this much in 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2009, years in which the S&P 500
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bruce Stout at Aberdeen Asset Mgmt says: Optimism is too high for stocks and bond yields are too low His fund’s fixed-income holdings are at the lowest level in 25 years. The main problem is trying to get yield in a world where there is no yield, but
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: George Soros cut holdings of gold ETPs in Q1, 2013. John Paulson maintained a stake and Schroder Investment Mgmt bought in Q1. Deutsche Bank said assets in SPDR will probably drop by an additional 2 million to 4 million ounces after slumping 9.7 million ounces since mid-December. Jeffrey Currie et al at Goldman Sachs
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Foreigners bought $292.1 million more of Indian stocks than they sold last week, the most since the period ended March 15. Net inflows in 2013 are $10.6 billion, the second-largest amount among 10 Asian markets tracked by Bloomberg, behind Japan. James Thom at Aberdeen Asset Mgmt said India
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Ryota Sakagami at SMBC Nikko Securities said the Japanese stock market is on the verge of a bubble as the BOJ and the government work to push up asset prices. Sakagami said the BOJ indicates it will act if the market were to fall so do not expect a correction.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is up 22 percent since its October 2011 low versus the 33 percent advance for the MSCI World Index – the first time since 1998 they have underperformed during a global rally. Bulls say emerging markets will lead the next stage of the global rally
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Chad Morganlander at Stifel Nicolaus said people listen when Warren Buffett does a deal, and a gradual improvement in the US economy combined with very low volatility in financial markets makes the perfect cocktail for M&A. The S&P 500 is 15 times earnings in the past year, the highest multiple
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The MSCI World Index dividend yield of 2.7 percent compares with the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Corporate Index bond yield of 2.6 percent and the Barclays Global High-Yield Index yield of 6.1 percent -the gap with the junk-bond index is the narrowest since at least 1995. Jacob de Tusch-Lec at
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Steven Logan at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership said it’s not unhealthy for the bond market to have a reality check after a slightly chaotic spell of issuance with far too many transactions. Bill Gross at Pimco said investors should position for the end stage of a supernova credit explosion
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Investors said the S&P lowered outlook for the UK’s credit-rating will have little impact. Stuart Thomson at Ignis Asset Mgmt doesn’t see the downgrade as significant for gilts – a move from AAA to AA+ has lost its impact, if it ever had any, and the impact on default is virtually
READ MORE... →