Salient to Investors: If you ask your adviser to whom he or she owes their first legal duty of care, and you don’t get an immediate answer “you, as my client” then the chances are that they are not acting as a fiduciary. You can’t be a part-time fiduciary. The first
READ MORE... →Fareed Zakaria said: The greatest vulnerability for Israel is its legal jurisdiction over 4.5 million Arabs who have neither a state nor a vote – a situation that cannot last in a democratic society. The Stockholm IPRI says Israel’s defense budget is larger than that of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Analysts expect earnings to fall this year at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase et al, but rise 20 percent or more at discount brokers. Chad Morganlander at Stifel, Nicolaus said household investors are getting more confident as their fear thaws out – volatility terrifies retail investors. James Gaul
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Barclays is joining Citigroup and UBS in targeting millionaire clients in Africa. Cap Gemini and Royal Bank of Canada said the number of Africans with at least $1 million of investable assets climbed 9.9 percent to 140,000 in 2012, the fastest rate of increase outside North America. Cap Gemini said 42 percent
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Banks, brokers and insurance companies make up 16.8 percent of the S&P 500, almost double the level from 2009 and versus tech companies at 17.6 percent. Banks were the largest US industry during the bull market that began in 2002, and financial firms grew to 18.8 percent of the index in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jim Rogers said: Agriculture will enjoy an extended boom,Very bullish about farmland and other agricultural products. Bearish on Wall Street brokers and Ivy League professors. The central corridor from north Texas up to the Dakotas has the highest growth rates in employment, income growth and savings in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Earnings: 73% of 103 S&P 500 companies so far reporting have beaten estimates 53% have beaten revenue estimates. 80% of S&P 500 financial companies have beaten estimates by an average of 8.7%. Banks and insurers are predicted to report earnings growth of 26% this quarter. Excluding financial
READ MORE... →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: MetLife cut its adviser force by a third, eliminating 2,500 jobs as the company scales back variable annuity sales and turns to other nations for growth. MetLife has 5,000 advisers who sell insurance and investment products, down from 7,500 in February of 2012. Danny Sarch at Leitner
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds continue to be an overpriced, middling asset class. Goldman Sachs found that hedge funds returned an average of 5 percent in 2013 versus a 15 percent gain in the S&P 500, while only 5 percent of the funds beat the S&P and more than 1
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