Salient to Investors: Indonesian lenders are the most profitable among the 20 biggest economies with average return on equity is 23 percent for the country’s five biggest banks, versus 21 percent for Chinese banks of the same size, 20 percent for Canadian banks, and 9 percent for US banks. Indonesian banks are
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Aryam Vazquez at Wells Fargo said many emerging market countries are commodities producers, exporters and consumers, so are going to feel any pullback in risk assets such as commodities. Paul Joseph Garcia at BPI Asset Mgmt said the Philippine stock rally stands on firm ground as investors will pay a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Vanguard attracted a record $24.3 billion from clients in January, mostly into stocks, and more than 40 percent greater than the previous monthly record in January 2012. ICI said US mutual fund inflows are on track for the biggest month on record for deposits in January. IndexUniverse said ETFs attracted
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Joseph Veranth at Dana Investment Advisors sees little change to the strong trend in the US. Patrick Legland at Societe Generale said the S&P 500 is overvalued given the slow economic recovery, and the risk-on mode may end soon with a lack of positive economic data. Investors are
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Wilshire Associates said: Big government-employee pensions reported median returns of 13.43 percent in 2012 versus 12.47 percent for funds with over under$1 billion in assets. State and local pensions with under $1 billion of assets had a median allocation of 10.6 percent in international stocks and zero
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Derivatives traders are signaling little chance of a bear market in bonds for the next three years, because the Fed continues to flood the financial system with money to boost the economy. William O’Donnell at RBS Securities said the focus of the Fed is still unemployment, which it sees as not
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Rising long-term rates indicate traders expect the economy to pick up. Bill Gross at Pimco is avoiding long-term bonds, and sees US inflation benign in 2013 and possibly rising in 2014 to 2016 on faster inflation. Hiroki Shimazu at SMBC Nikko Securities said the recovering global economy is pushing up
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William C. Dudley at FRB of New York said the international economy is gradually improving in a trend that benefits US growth. Dudley said Europe is considerably brighter as political support for fixing budgets is holding up, the ECB has provided a credible backstop, and it’s very clear countries want to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill Gross at Pimco said: The increase in unemployment in January gives bond yields room to decline. Central bank stimulus has made bond markets bubbly. Avoid longer-maturity governments because of the inflation risk from quantitative easing et al. As long as check writing in the trillions continues, it’s a foundation for
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: John Kilduff at Again Capital said the realization that the Seaway reversal is not the answer to the backlog of supply in the central US is hurting the WTI price. Bob Yawger at Mizuho Securities USA is bullish, saying we got to a golden cross formation yesterday when
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