Salient to Investors: Bloomberg says two-thirds of company takeovers exceeding $20 billion since 1996 generated losses for the acquirer’s shareholders – the 78 buyers lagged behind the MSCI World Index by a median of 13 percent in the 3 years after completion, falling 21 percent. Warren Buffett says acquirers typically
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Venezuela bondholders have returned 14.7 percent annually, double the emerging-market average, enriching investors from OppenheimerFunds to Goldman Sachs. Sara Zervos at OppenheimerFunds said Chavez has done little good for Venezuela, but has serviced the bonds, and the Venezuelan securities are more attractive than Brazilian bonds, which offers little upside. Zervos said
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gina Martin Adams at Wells Fargo said disappointing economic reports are dragging down US stocks and bode ill for the future direction of stock prices. The Citigroup US Economic Surprise Index dropped below zero last week for the first time since September. 75 percent of 193 S&P 500 companies
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jay Wong at Payden & Rygel said continued earnings beats is helping drive the market, which has a lot of momentum. The Index of consumer confidence was the weakest since November 2011 and lower than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey. 75 percent of the 179 S&P
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Tel Aviv TA-25 Index returned 13.4 percent in the 10 years ended Jan. 29 after adjusting for volatility, the highest among 24 developed-nation benchmark indexes. Israel GDP expanded 14.7 percent from 2009 to 2012 versus 3.2 percent in the US and a contraction of 1.5 percent in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: EPFR Global said US equity funds took in a record $3.1 billion at the beginning of this year. The January rally is the biggest rally since 1987. William Stone at PNC Wealth Mgmt said Berkshire Hathaway’s interest in NYSE Euronext indicates Buffett is saying maybe things will turn around and volume will
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The lockstep moves in global stocks that dominated markets for the past 6 years are breaking down at the fastest rate on record, a sign investor confidence is finally returning from the financial crisis. Fidelity Worldwide Investment said diverging prices accompanied past rallies and is poised to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gaelle Blanchard at Societe Generale said there’s a run of risk aversion on concerns for growth. Martial Godet at BNP Paribas CIB said global earnings growth should be stronger than 2012 for emerging-market companies, particularly China, while commodity and oil prices are resilient, which helps Russia. The MSCI emerging-markets
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gina Martin Adams at Wells Fargo Securities says: Investors should go against the herd as the market is overbought and sentiment is at levels seen at peaks and tops, fundamentals are weak with economic data in January missing expectations, and there is consistent deceleration in earnings growth. Improving housing
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: George Soros said: The world still does not fully understand how financial markets work – the established theory has collapsed. Germany is out of tune with the rest of the world in handling the euro crisis. There is a risk of a credit bubble, the big, unresolved
READ MORE... →