POST PUBLISHED INNovember, 2009
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  • Leaders, Laggards, and Upgrading

    November 25th, 200911:46 AM ET
    By Austin Pryor
    As we approach year-end, we'll be seeing the usual articles that take a look back at the wild ride that has been 2009. Here's one from Morningstar naming Four Big Mutual Fund Surprises of 2009. On the pleasant-surprise side, Upgraders will find two familiar names. Brown Capital Management Small Company (BCSIX) was added to our recommended list...

  • It's back-to-basics time

    November 20th, 200911:43 AM ET
    By Austin Pryor
    Allow me to repeat part of what I wrote in my October editorial: The past two years we've been dealing with [a recession], and some seasoned observers fear the worst is far from over. They advise avoiding the stock market and building your cash stockpile. Another group believes it's likely the economy has turned the corner and the market is lo...

  • Moving from strength to strength

    November 19th, 200908:28 AM ET
    By Austin Pryor
    This New York Times' article points out that, although the overall U.S. stock market has little in the way of gains to show for the past 10 years, there have nevertheless been pockets of strength beneath the surface: Look a bit deeper, though, and you'll find that there have been some changes in the domestic market, too, in the last 10 years...

  • This quiz attempts to measure how risk tolerant you are

    November 16th, 200912:43 PM ET
    By Austin Pryor
    Early on at SMI, I developed a brief quiz to help our readers determine how risk averse they are. The results from that quiz, in combination with our "seasons of life" chart, help them arrive at a stock/bond allocation suitable to their risk tolerance and age. At least that's the idea. As we all know, however, the way you answer questions in w...

  • Between a rock and a hard place

    November 12th, 200908:40 AM ET
    By Mark Biller
    That's where the Fed finds itself currently, trying to balance its dual mandate of price stability and full employment. As Randall Forsyth writes in this week's Barron's (subscription required): Friday's jobs data underscored Wednesday's reiteration by the Federal Reserve that it will keep its key policy rate at 0-0.25% "for an extended per...

  • World Bank, IMF warn of new bubbles

    November 11th, 200909:55 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are concerned that artificially low interest rates combined with huge sums of money sloshing around from "stimulus" programs and central bank coffers could lead to another round of asset bubbles, especially in Asia. The Wall Street Journal has the story: The World Bank warned Tuesday that the sud...

  • Where does gold go from here?

    November 09th, 200901:53 PM ET
    By Mark Biller
    It took many SMI readers by surprise when we started writing positively about gold in our May cover article, then came right out and suggested buying it in August. Some believed it was too late to buy at that point, having seen gold rally from roughly $250 at the beginning of the decade all the way to nearly $900 at that time. Now, with gold u...

  • We should have seen it coming

    November 05th, 200909:02 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    In a column for the Wall Street Journal, the always-insightful Jeremy Seigel, a professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (and author of Stocks for the Long Run), gets to the heart of what led to the financial meltdown. The key, he writes, can be found in data collected by Prof. Robert Shiller of Yale University. ...

  • "How much debt can a country carry?"

    November 04th, 200910:31 AM ET
    By Joseph Slife
    The U.S. isn't the only nation where people are worried about the long-term impact of huge levels of government spending and debt. New York Times writer Hiroko Tabuchi reported recently from Tokyo on the economic ill-health of Japan: How much debt can an industrialized country carry before the nation's economy and its currency bow, then break?...

  • The pain of math

    November 02nd, 200901:41 PM ET
    By Mark Biller
    From Friday's news: The Obama administration has been eager to counter the argument that the stimulus has been ineffective amid a Washington debate over whether a second stimulus might be in order. Administration officials said they looked at $150 billion of the stimulus spending and determined it had created or saved about 650,000 jobs through S...
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