Salient to Investors: John Griffin, Jordan Nickerson and Dragon Tang at the University of Texas said Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s inflated their grades on securitized debt prior to the financial crisis to match each other’s opinions to avoid losing business. CDOs rated AAA by both companies defaulted more often than securities with
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Denise Shull at The ReThink Group writes: When the market or stock is very near all-time highs, psychology plays a bigger role than normal. Research shows that those who think of the market as a poker game are better at predicting price action. The ‘who is in
READ MORE... →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: Vitaly Nesis at Polymetal International said gold will peak above $2,000 and average between $1,700 and $1,800 in 2013 as central banks’ purchases will be the main demand driver. Nesis doesn’t expect investors to switch from gold to silver in 2013 because silver is a less significant asset in the
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: GDP in Q4 2012 was weaker than any economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Paul Edelstein at IHS Global Insight said this is not a recessionary signal by any means, but a payback in national defense spending, with consumer spending picking up and fixed investment strong. David Greenlaw and Ted
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: GDP growth for Q4 2012 was negative and weaker than any forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Tim Evans at Long Leaf Trading said more numbers like this and gold will rally. Sales of American Eagle silver coins rose to a record this month. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/gold-little-changed-amid-fed-meeting-palladium-at-16-month-high.html Free email alerts
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: The median economist expects the Fed’s latest round of bond buying to reach $1.14 trillion before he ends the program in Q1 2014, and the economy to grow 2 percent in 2013 versus the FOMC forecast of 2.3 percent to 3 percent. 57 percent of economists said the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Nicholas Spiro at Spiro Sovereign Strategy writes: Market sentiment toward the euro area has swung from panic to growing confidence in just six months. Spain and Italy, the twin bellwethers of sentiment on Europe, show how markets are again underpricing sovereign risk as even a cursory glance at
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