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Indexes

Learning Market Timing the Hard Way

March 12, 2009
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Stock prices have dropped through the floor, and–at least before the relief rally that began on Tuesday–had begun digging holes in the basement. It’s been a nightmare for anyone who has spent years building up a portfolio preparing to retire and even worse for those who have already entered a stock-funded retirement. The only people who are able to take any comfort from this situation are the people who never trusted the market and are sitting pretty on a pile of Treasuries, a fat savings account book or even an under-the-mattress Posture-Pedic Portfolio. But even those people have friends...

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An Easy Way to Time the Stock Market

March 9, 2009
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I’ve been thinking more and more about the historic decline we’re living through, and I think this will become a litmus test for investment advisors and money managers in the years ahead. The most popular question will be, “How did you perform during the 2007-2009 bear market?” The advisors who fared poorly will likely struggle to get new clients or hold on to their current ones, and hence, may have trouble surviving. But the advisors that avoided most of the bear market and didn’t fall prey to the classic “you must remain fully I invested at all times!” mantra...

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Is 2008 the Year Buy-and-Hold Came to Die?

February 27, 2009
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Many value investors adhere to the old buy-and-hold forever theory.  The past year, though, has been a brutal time to be a buy-and-hold investor.  According to Morningstar, 95% of all mutual fund managers lost more than 27% last year.  Holy cow! The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (before dividends) dropped 21.85% for the 10 years ended December 31, 2008.  The buy and hold strategy that many value investing gurus recommend has clearly not worked well during the past 10 years.  Jeff Macke on CNBC’s Fast Money went so far as to proclaim “2008 will go down as the year...

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Baltic Dry Index: Shipping Stocks are Starting to Rebound

February 10, 2009
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Note from Editor Elyse Andrews: Has every ship run aground? Have all the oceans frozen over? You might think so if you’ve followed the dramatic tumble of the Baltic Dry Index. The index tracks the price to ship dry goods–everything from corn to cement–and unless the world suddenly stops eating and building, the odds are this index is ripe for a stunning rebound … that looks already underway. Today, we’re featuring an article from our friends at StreetAuthority. StreetAuthority Editor Amy Calistri explains why these shipping stocks have a bright future ahead of them while providing some monstrous yields–one...

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