Salient to Investors: Jack Ablin at BMO Private Bank said the economic head start helps build a nice story for 2013. 71 percent of the 52 S&P 500 companies so far reported have beat analysts forecasts. Laszlo Birinyi said he purchased options to bet the S&P 500 will rise more than 8 percent by the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge Fund Research said $3.8 billion went into activist funds in 2012 versus $1.8 billion in 2010. Factset Research Systems said shareholder activists started 219 campaigns in 2012 versus, up 22 percent from 2011 and the most since 2008. Patrick Ramsey at Bank of America said we have seen a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: International purchases of U.S. stocks, bonds and other financial assets were more than twice as much as forecast in November as investors sought shelter from a global economic slowdown. Millan Mulraine at TD Securities sees further inflows. The World Bank projects the world economy to grow 2.4 percent in 2013 versus a June
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Private equity companies and venture capitalists reduced renewable-energy investment to the lowest since 2006. Vinod Khosla at Khosla Ventures said all the fashionable VCs have exited, and the number of new businesses is smaller. Ethan Zindler at New Energy Finance said venture investors in early stages do
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: EPFR Global said investors added a record $3.1 billion to equity mutual funds in the first week of 2013, the most since it began tracking the industry in 2000. Investors withdrew $69.1 billion from US equity funds in 2012 and $375 billion since 2007. Walter Todd at Greenwood Capital Associates said
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: David Kostin at Goldman Sachs said volatility – the drawdown risk – will deter investors from moving into stocks from bonds in 2013 even as dividend returns exceed fixed-income yields. Kostin said most investors will sell US government bonds if losses push the 10-yr Treasury yield to 3 percent from 1.85
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds et al trimmed net-long positions to the lowest since June 19, and gold holdings fell to the lowest since August. The S&P GSCI index of 24 raw materials has climbed for 5 consecutive weeks. Quincy Krosby at Prudential Financial said data out of China and the US shows we are
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: James Paulsen at Wells Capital Mgmt said Apple is the story for the market and proxy for other companies and industries. James Cordwell at Atlantic Equities Service said IPhone sales are slowing because smartphones have saturated developed markets. Almost 80 percent of the 28 S&P 500 companies so far
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The 20 stocks with the highest short sales in the S&P 500 rose an average of 5.1 percent in December versus 0.7 percent for the Index, the widest performance gap since January 2012. Equities tend to rally when companies with the most short interest outperform – like in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds et al reduced net-long positions across 18 US futures and options last week to the lowest since June 19. Gold holdings reached a 4-month low, copper holding dropped for the first time in five weeks, and investors were the most bearish on natural gas since May. Walter Hellwig at BB&T
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