Market Summary – Q2 2014
The year hit the half way mark with the major asset classes all showing positive returns. Real Estate funds soared in the second quarter, no doubt benefitting from new Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s position to continue to use the Fed’s clout to keep interest rates low. Bonds also have enjoyed positive returns this year, confounding those who feared inflation and rising rates would erode bond prices. We wonder if the economic recovery no one believed is beginning to edge out the financial recession no one remembers. CNN Money displays a Fear and Greed Index1 in which six metrics are...
Read MoreJune 2014: Are the Markets Rigged?
Some of you may have read Michael Lewis’ newest book Flash Boys – we devoured it shortly after it was published in April. Others may have watched as Lewis was interviewed on 60 Minutes and other media outlets as part of the “book launch” and still others may be waiting for the inevitable movie. Very briefly, the book outlines a scheme to rig the markets by companies most have never heard of using technology and “dark pools” to wring small gains out of many of the stock trades that occur in the US each day. “investors are systematically disadvantaged”1 Likely as a result of the media...
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