Salient to Investors: Kevin Divney at Beaconcrest Capital Mgmt said more deals create good sentiment because it means CEOs are looking further out, and that’s been the issue the past 4 years. 71 percent of the 399 S&P 500 companies so far reporting have beaten estimates, 67 percent have beaten sales estimates. Read
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: David Cassidy at UBS said there is risk of a correction, but people are not positioned for this rally and are still scrambling to buy so I am not bearish on equities. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index is up 3.3 percent in 2013, less than the 6.7
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Terry Morris at National Penn Investors Trust said Wal-Mart’s sales slowdown indicates the consumer is not as ready to come back as Wall Street was hoping, meaning the market may be a little ahead of itself. John Stoltzfus at Oppenheimer said the market is pausing with perhaps a modest downside
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: George Soros and Louis Moore Bacon cut their stakes in gold ETPs in Q4 2012. Lone Pine Capital and Scout Capital Mgmt sold their entire stakes in the SPDR Gold Trust, but John Paulson maintained his holding. UBS reduced its one-month price target by 6.8 percent, saying economic optimism takes the shine
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Tim Courtney at Exencial Wealth Advisors said all these deals are good news for the markets because they show that capital is being put to good use for investors. The difference between the price of put options protecting against a 10 percent slide in the S&P 500
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Caroline Baum writes: The Fed buys risk-free Treasury securities, depressing yields, while the public is goaded into buying riskier assets, such as stocks and corporate bonds. Businesses financing with equity have more money to invest, while consumers feel wealthier and spend. quick paydayloan The Fed hopes money will
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Beth McHugh at Fidelity Investments said average balances in 401(k) accounts in the US rose 12 percent from a year earlier to a record high of $77,300 at year-end 2012 – 2/3 of the increase from market appreciation, the remainder from contributions. ICI says Americans held $3.5 trillion in 401(k) accounts as of Sept.
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: Kyung-Ah Park at Goldman Sachs said: Water utilities, infrastructure and water rights offer stable, long-term investment. Water supply is very inelastic, and 1 in 8 people lack access to safe water. Demand for water is growing twice as fast as the global population, and much of the developed world’s water infrastructure
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