Bearish Treasury Bets Hit a Record Amid Inflation Concern – Bloomberg 09-21-12

Salient to Investors: Options traders are paying record prices to protect against swings in long-term U.S. Treasuries relative to stocks amid concern inflation will accelerate. The ratio between implied volatility for contracts closest to the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust  reached the highest since

READ MORE...

U.S. Stocks Rise Amid Spain Report as Apple Advances = Bloomberg 09-21-12

Salient to Investors: The S&P 500 is at 14.9 times reported earnings versus the average 16.3 multiple since 1954. Michael Price at MFP Investors says the U.S. is the most attractive stock market because of the strength of corporate balance sheets, low interest rates and valuations. Price said it’s very early for European stocks. Read the

READ MORE...

U.S. Stock Futures Advance as Housing Construction Gains – Bloomberg 09-19-12

Salient to Investors: Richard Hunter at Hargreaves Lansdown said unemployment and housing in the U.S. are the twin drags which need resolving. The S&P 500 at 14.1 times estimated earnings is close to its highest price multiple since the end of 2010. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-19/u-s-stock-futures-rise-on-housing-market-outlook.html

READ MORE...

Earnings in United States Are Beginning to Feel a Pinch – New York Times 09-16-12

Salient to Investors: Bellwethers FedEx and Intel expect lower quarterly profits because of weakness in worldwide demand. Wall Street expects quarterly profits at large American companies to decline for the first time since 2009. Ethan Harris at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said a lot of the profit gain over the past years came from a

READ MORE...

S&P 500 10% From Record as Birinyi Sees Bears Capitulate – Bloomberg 09-06-12

Salient to Investors: The S&Ps 500 Index is closer to a record than any other major stock market. Laszlo Birinyi expects more gains as bearish investors give up excuses of no volume and the belief that earnings aren’t going to be good, and start buying.  Birinyi is surprised by the market’s strength and breadth. Byron Wien at Blackstone said everybody

READ MORE...

Earnings Matter Most for U.S. Stocks as Economic Obsession Fades – Bloomberg 09-03-12

Salient to Investors: Profits are moving U.S. equity prices more than any time since the bull market began 3 1/2 years ago. Bloomberg data show: S&P 500 companies rose or fell an average of 4.4 percent the day after releasing results since July. Daily swings in the index narrowed to 0.4

READ MORE...