What we make of it is that dividends used to account for a much larger percentage of your total return in stocks than they have in the last twenty years. Times change. There’s no rule that says the future has to be just like the past. But if stocks beat inflation, should you invest in stocks for income or capital appreciation? That’s the second question.
October 19th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "ASX 200"
Aussie Dollar Ready to Storm Past US Dollar
Yesterday’s episode of the Daily Reckoning left off with the question of whether 5,000 was in sight on the ASX 200. The answer today is that it is just over the horizon. The index closed up 2.3% to 4,695. The more investors thought about the recovery/China/demise of the dollar story, the more they liked buying stocks (especially gold stocks).
October 8th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 26 comments | Continued
Aren’t You the Least Bit Suspicious that Goldman is Talking Up the Banks?
Goldman Sachs has raised its rating on large banks to “attractive.” In related news, Neal Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has said that the Feds may have, er, not quite told the truth about the health of the banks receiving TARP funds. He didn’t use the word, lie though. How are these two items related? We’ll explain below.
October 6th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
Big Difference Between Stark News in Job Market and Behaviour of Stock Market
There have been jobless recoveries from recession before. But you still have to wonder how there can be such a big difference between the stark news in the job market and the behaviour of the stock market. True, economists will tell you that jobs are the last thing to recover from a recession. Businesses don’t hire until they are sure everything is in the clear.
October 5th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued
In a Bear Market Most Stocks Go Down, So What Do You Do?
But the stock market is not a television show or a graphic novel. It does not have a tidy beginning, an enthralling middle, and a miraculous end. Attention spans are short these days. People expect instant resolution. But the unwinding of a credit boom doesn’t work that way, especially when you have central banks and governments fighting it every step of the way…
August 31st, 2009 | Dan Denning | 31 comments | Continued
Glenn Stevens Says Australia’s Economy Has Been Travelling Better Than Others
We’ll see about that. Stocks are certainly pricing in a profit recovery (about which we have our doubts). But Mr. Stevens also had a bit to say about credit markets and balance sheets, in comments that were not as widely reported as his comments on Australian housing. More on housing in a second.
July 29th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 25 comments | Continued
RBA Rate Cut Does Little to Unlock Credit Market
“Rally to me,” said Glenn Stevens. And investors did. The RBA rate cut WAS a full percentage point as we speculated yesterday. And it certainly did make a splash. Economists loved it. The critics praised it. And investors “huzzahed” the ASX 200 up nearly two percent on a day when the rest of the globe quaked in fear. What has changed? The bank has shifted from being worried about inflation to being worried about recession. A credit crunch?
October 8th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 4 comments | Continued