Risk vs Reward

After the spectacular stock market rally of 2009, even the most bullish analyst is not expecting an encore of this performance in 2010. The more optimistic forecasts are for a 10-20% increase but the odds are higher for stocks to go sideways or down in 2010. There is still a lot of uncertainty if the [...]

2010 Bear Market Strategies

I was surprised when I found out that the top keyword search phrase for my blog this month was “2010 Bear Market Strategies”. Due to the lack of bearish articles on Australian sites, my little old blog appeared in the top 2 listings on the Google search results! For the few bears out there (according [...]

Get your fair share of commission rebates

I am sure no consumer likes to pay commissions for the financial products we buy. Unfortunately, the financial product providers have no choice but to pay commissions to provide incentives for financial advisers to recommend their product. Last weekend, we had drinks with one of Kingsley’s good friends who works for a fund management company [...]

My outlook for 2010

I wish I can be a little bit more enthusiastic when I exchange “Happy New Year” wishes with family and friends. I just cannot do it because deep inside, I think there will be more pain to come in 2010 for investors. When I look at the events that have taken place in the past [...]

Where is the AUD headed in 2010?

Yesterday, the Aussie dollar index broke below a key technical support level of 89.89 which was the most recent low on 28 Oct 2009. From the chart below, you can see a “head and shoulder” chart pattern (not a classic textbook one as there appears to be three right shoulders). The “head” is marked by [...]

AORD head and shoulders – an example of when to hedge

Yesterday I decided to buy XJO put options to hedge my Australian stock portfolio because of what I observed as a “head and shoulders” pattern on the daily chart of the All Ordinaries Index (see $AORD chart above). This pattern is formed when the price charts make a new lower “high”. In a healthy bull [...]

Meredith Whitney: Sell the banks

I noticed early this morning that some banks in the US finished in the red despite a very bullish day where the major market indices made new highs. When the Australian markets opened later in the morning, I noticed that the major Australian banks also registered big drops in price. At the time of writing, [...]

High interest cash accounts for SMSFs

In my last blog post, I mentioned that with the rising interest rates and low inflation, cash is becoming an attractive investment option especially when compared to the increasingly volatile stock market. I started my search for good high interest savings accounts and term deposits and noticed that some of the highest yielding accounts were [...]

Flight to safety starting

In the last few days, the only “green” on my watchlist of Australian stocks were those of defensive stocks like utilities and consumer staples while the mining and banking stocks tumbled. Telstra, which was so unloved in the past months is finally making a strong comeback. For those public super funds who have to maintain [...]

Double dip recession soon?

I remember a few key people who warned about an impending recession back in 2007 when the stock market was still making new highs. One very vocal person was Nouriel Roubini, an economics professor from New York University, who was so bearish that he was nicknamed “Dr Doom”. Since his predictions have come true, his [...]

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