2011 was definitely a wild and wacky year for investments. Volatility and uncertainty returned to the markets with a vengeance. In my mind, 2011 was the year of the contrarian in spades. Usually being contrarian pays off handsomely but 2011 delivered in that regard more than usual. Can you remember Read more
Happy New Year everyone! I know its been a while since I last posted but I’m feeling refreshed after a good break and ready to blog away in 2012. I hope everyone had a great holiday season. As for me, the RV and family are happily stationed in San Diego Read more
Its been a hell of a few weeks for mREITs. From the Friday freakout just over one month ago to the recent week’s 5%+ price declines investors are digesting multiple new risks to the mREIT’s businesses. In response to all this valuations for the sector have come down to a Read more
September turned out true to historical form, as one of the weakest months for stocks, In last month’s report I said that there was a good chance stocks would test the August lows. The August lows were not only tested this month but broken causing even more pain for stocks Read more
On Sept 22 Fairfax Financial announced a 10% share buyback. Details here. As most of you know, in previous posts I’ve discussed why Fairfax is a great undervalued business. Currently the shares are trading at about 1.05 times Q2 2011 ending book valued of $358. If business for Fairfax just Read more
The end of the third quarter was down right ugly. The end of Sept timing model sell signals proved out pretty well this month, preserving an investor’s capital. Lets look at the month end results to the timing model. For background on the model see here. The timing model status Read more
Here we go again. Just as we hit the one year anniversary of Meredith Whitney’s famous, or more accurately infamous, muni bond call a new muni bond scare has surfaced. This time its the potential change to municipal bond’s tax status. Lets take a look at this latest fear and Read more
Its been a while since my last post. Several weeks back I had a pretty serious family medical emergency. My mother was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and I flew back to my hometown of Miami, FL to take care of things so to speak. Well, several weeks later the Read more
Here is the updated income investor dashboard for September. Prices are as of the market close on Friday September 2nd. August overall had one general theme; stocks bad, bonds good. See the dashboard below. August was one of the worst months on record for stocks. Markets are trading mainly on Read more
Just a quick update on my last post on the 200-day moving average timing model. At the end of August the model was signaling the following. See here for more details. Based on the 200-day moving averages (10-month) the model was indicating that investors go to cash for US stocks Read more
It’s been since May that I updated my table on MLP valuation. With the recent volatility in the market and the month of August coming to an end it is a good time to take a look at MLP valuation. Lets jump right in. As I’ve done before, I updated Read more