Monday, March 31, 2008

First, Stop the Rot

excerpts from this week's report:

“What seems to also be lost in all the noise re rate cuts and traditional real economy stuff is the concurrent effort of the Fed and other interested parties in fixing what got broke. Specifically, the financial model that gave us the Great Moderation (lower rates, low inflation) and all the wonderful real economy benefits complements of Globalization.”

“Searching for the Magic Formula”
Blog posting November 29, 2007

This morning’s Treasury announcement re the regulatory structure is the long overdue first step toward the new financial order so vital to a properly functioning capital markets. It is encouraging to hear Sec. Paulson correctly note that “Our first and most urgent priority is working through this capital market turmoil and housing downturn, and that will be our priority until this situation is resolved.”

As noted in a recent Financial Times commentary, first, stop the rot.

However, as with the re-regulatory proposals put forth this morning, stopping the rot will take time. And with time comes pain from the black hole of the world of credit derivatives. For example, consider what the current issue of the Economist notes re credit default swaps and hedge funds:..."

Investment Strategy Implications

"The complexity of the situation is captured quite well in the Economist article. And while the efforts of the Treasury and the Fed are now clearly headed in the right direction, the magnitude of the problem will remain an overhang on the capital markets with additional disruptions likely to occur. You don’t know what you don’t know is alive and well..."

also in this week's report:

* Expected Return Valuation Model
* Moving Averages Scorecard
* Model Growth Portfolio
* Sectors and Styles Market Monitor
* Key US Economic Indicators

*To gain access to this week's report (and all reports), click on the subscription information link to your left.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Quotable Quotes: Attack



As Hillary Clinton exercises the Tonya Harding option and kneecaps Barrack Obama (along with the Democratic Party), a few words on attack seem fitting.




“Men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.”
Machiavelli

“Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility of victory in the Attack.”
Sun Tzu

“If the events of September 11, 2001, have proven anything, it's that the terrorists can attack us, but they can't take away what makes us American - our freedom, our liberty, our civil rights. No, only Attorney General John Ashcroft can do that.”
Jon Stewart

“I need not fear my enemies because the most they can do is attack me. I need not fear my friends because the most they can do is betray me. But I have much to fear from people who are indifferent.”
Russian Proverb

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.”
Ulysses S. Grant

“Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe.”
John Milton

Have a good weekend.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

A Matter of Degree












One of the attributes of the past decade has been the increase in correlation between and among sectors, size, styles, regions, countries, and even across many asset classes. Given the turmoil that has erupted in the financial markets, an investor might have assumed that the synchronized investment swimming might diminish as alpha starved investors gravitate toward winners and away from the losers. As the two accompanying charts show, however, that does not seem to be the case thus far this year.

From a size and style perspective, for example, the first chart* shows the high degree of correlation among the three major size categories – large, mid, and small – and the two major style categories – growth and value. This same is the case from a global markets perspective (chart 2*).

The only apparent performance difference is the degree to which a sector of the equity markets moves, with little to no signs of diminishing correlations. In other words, despite the disruption and the incentive for money to gravitate more clearly toward winners and away from losers, markets remained fully synchronized.

Investment Strategy Implications

Perhaps it is the credit related risks to hedge funds and the strong momentum (some might argue the lemming-like) aspects of many professional investors that explains why alpha starved performance has not produced a move away from high correlations. Or maybe it is the strong influence of quant models. Whatever the underlying reasons might be, it would behoove investors to keep a close watch on this aspect of the equity markets as signs of divergence in synchronization can yield excess return rewards – something that I would suspect will emerge as the year progresses.

*click on images to enlarge

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Beyond the Sound Bite: An Interview with Don Straszheim


My interview with the Vice Chairman of Roth Capital Partners includes the state of the global economy, decoupling, China, and financial innovation.

All Beyond the Sound Bite postings can be found at beyondthesoundbite.blogspot.com
To listen to this week's podcast interview, click here

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Tracking the TAF








Every two weeks, the Fed issues the results of its latest Term Auction Facility. Today’s results (see table*) show a modestly improving trend in the bid to cover ratio – total propositions submitted, total propositions accepted. What is useful is to track the trend since the TAF was instituted last December 17th (see chart*) as it provides a good indication of the progress, if any, in the unfreezing of the core of the credit system (within the primary banks).

Investment Strategy Implications

Credit spreads may be the default tool re the status of the credit freeze. The TAF seems, however, to be an excellent additional tool enabling investors to better understand the status of the freeze. Based on the latest data and its trend, progress is being made but not quite enough as the bid/cover ratio still has a ways to go before it signals that funds accessed through the TAF are no longer vital. A reading closer to 1 would be desirable.

*click on images to enlarge

Monday, March 24, 2008

The Morphine Rally


excerpts from this week's report:
"What a difference a week makes.



Panic set in last Monday as the Federal Reserve sponsored theft of Bear Stearns greeted investors. Billions to millions in a weekend. This week greets investors with the fanciful belief that mountains of liquidity will do the trick. While boodles of money will help alleviate the credit crisis, it will not, however, eliminate the source and core of the problem – excess amounts of credit and the deleveraging process..."

"Last week's debacle in the global markets, commodities, and metals should give every investor pause. Moreover, only three economic sectors managed a positive relative performance week with some (Energy, for example) turning in nasty down numbers for the week. Therefore, understanding the nature of this market rally is crucial to relative performance strength..."

Investment Strategy Implications

"The credit crisis is far from over. In fact, there’s a good chance that many additional cracks in the US financial structure will emerge in the coming months thereby producing more investor angst and the very real risk of spillover into the real economy*. That said, the severe undervaluation that developed over these past months along with high degrees of investor pessimism has set the stage for the rally equities are experiencing.

Equities should continue to close the valuation gap,..."

"...if the US economy were viewed as a sick person afflicted with a potentially seriously debilitating disease, the flood of liquidity looks more like morphine to help alleviate the pain..."

also in this week's report:

* Expected Return Valuation Model
* Moving Averages Scorecard
* Model Growth Portfolio
* Sectors and Styles Market Monitor
* Key US Economic Indicators

*To gain access to this week's report (and all reports), click on the subscription information link to your left.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

“You can’t treat a virus with antibiotics.”


Last Tuesday night I received an e mail from Edith Orenstein, writer for the Financial Executive Internationals Financial Reporting Blog. Edith noticed my blog posting from earlier that day titled “FAS 157: Timing is Everything” and asked if I could comment on the differing opinions from, among others, the CFA Institute on the subject of mark-to-market accounting. In the e mail from Edith were several links on the emerging debate re mark-to-market accounting including one that contained the following recent quotes from Paul Volker:

“I have problems with fair value accounting…”

“…it is evident it doesn’t solve all problems, in fact, it may create a few…especially among financial engineers.” Specifically, he noted, “There is a real question how to blend insights of mark-to-market accounting where there is no market…. and it may lead to exaggerated movements in the markets.”

“There are beautiful theoretical models in economics which impress accountants, [since the Economists] get Nobel prizes, but applied to the real world that don’t work well, [that] is the real challenge.”

Since I am time constrained due to my travels to conduct my final two early 2008 events, I crafted an initial reply to Edith this morning that I wish to share with you here:

Hi Edith,

Before replying to your questions, I want make sure that the core of argument is understood as it hits right at the heart of what constitutes "fair value" and what I consider to be the questionable acceptance that the current price (exit price) for long duration assets such as fixed income instruments (including mortgages) and equities constitutes "fair value".

To begin, nothing captures the essence of my argument better than your quote of Paul Volker:

"There are beautiful theoretical models in economics which impress accountants, [since the Economists] get Nobel prizes, but applied to the real world that don't work well, [that] is the real challenge."

Assets rise and fall in value for many reasons, some of which are tied to the theoretical models Mr. Volker refers to such as the inputs that go into the discounted cash flow model. Such valuation levels reached via these methods are anchored in the rational investor theory as postulated in the "Modern Portfolio Theory" (MPT) and the "Efficient Market Hypothesis" (EMH).

However, recent research in the field of Behavioral Finance has shown what common sense has known all along - investors are not rational at all times and, therefore, are just as easily motivated by non-theoretical factors that are more self interested such as loss aversion and regret.

It is easy to understand why FASB and the CFA Institute are willing to accept the long established dogma of MPT and EMH. Mr. Volker has referenced one reason why. And, in the case of FASB, the threat of litigation as noted by Michael Young of WIlkie, Farr, & Gallagher is, no doubt, a contributing factor. Nevertheless, the fundamental principle underlying price as "fair value" for long duration assets, particularly in a time of deleveraging and capital base impairment (which begets further price pressure on the current price of an asset), is both out of date and at odds with reality (how the markets really work), common sense, and current theory.

I hope this helps clarify my position.

Investment Strategy Implications

“You can’t treat a virus with antibiotics” is an apt description of the current credit crisis. The Fed is clearly attempting to stay out of the theoretical fray of mark-to-market accounting and “fair value” and has referred that role to the FASB with its dogmatic belief in MPT and EMH.

The Fed’s solution to the credit crisis is to produce a tidal wave of liquidity designed primarily to unfreeze the core of the financial system in the hope that it will produce a return to confidence in counterparties and risk assessments and, thereby, prevent future runs on the bank such as that experienced with Northern Rock in Brittan and Bear Stearns in the US. In the process, the Fed hopes its efforts will prevent a spillover of the credit crisis into the real economy. Additionally, the Fed hopes that same liquidity will support the real economy by reducing the interest burden on consumers and business.

Lots of hoping and maybe it will all work. However, two elements at the core of the problem have not been resolved and will not be so simply through more money. One is the aforementioned fantasy of equating the current price of an asset with “fair value”. The other pertains to the consequences of the delevering of the US economy. (This second aspect will be addressed in a future report or blog posting.)

Whenever the economy has gotten into trouble in the past, liquidity acted like caffeine and helped stimulate the body economic. This time, however, liquidity seems to be less like caffeine and more like morphine.

The patient is ill with a virus. That virus is the unwinding of the credit bubble. The false belief that price equals “fair value” (and the “Fair Value Hierarchy”) combined with other factors such as accountants fear of litigation (to be addressed tomorrow) has turned this illness, this financial flu into pneumonia. And neither morphine nor antibiotics will produce the cure. Nor will hoping.

…to be continued.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Beyond the Sound Bite: An Interview with Subodh Kumar, CFA


My interview with the former Global Investment Strategist for CIBC World Markets and current Global Investment Strategist for Subodh Kumar & Associates includes earnings expectations, global investment strategy, interest rates, the credit crisis, and the risks of a currency crisis.


All Beyond the Sound Bite postings can be found at beyondthesoundbite.blogspot.com
To listen to this week's podcast interview, click here

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

FAS 157: Timing is Everything

“The definition of fair value retains the exchange price notion in earlier definitions of fair value. This Statement clarifies that the exchange price is the price in an orderly transaction between market participants to sell the asset or transfer the liability in the market in which the reporting entity would transact for the asset or liability, that is, the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability.”


“This Statement is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after November 15, 2007, and interim periods within those fiscal years.”

FASB Summary of Statement No. 157
Fair Value Measurements

“Part five is to show some urgency in dealing with the policy problems revealed by the crisis: the role of mark-to-market accounting and the pro-cyclical effects of the Basel II capital requirements, for example. Though all of these rules have been adopted for good reason, some are having perverse consequences and it may even be necessary to suspend parts of them for a time.

“Time to renew the financial toolbox”
Financial Times, editorial comment
March 17, 2008

Hmmm. Let’s see. FASB announces FAS 157 on November 15, 2007. After a brief respite, the chaos begins in earnest. Think there’s a connection?

Investment Strategy Implications

This is the last time I will make this point – mark-to-market is not appropriate for all assets at all times. Moreover, valuing assets based on the latest financial Frankenstein derivative (because no current liquid market in the instrument itself exists) is suspect at best.

As the FT editorial states, it is time to renew the financial toolbox – and we can start with FAS 157.

Related links:
FT Editorial
FAS 157 Statement
Wall Street MarketBeat "FAS 157 Primer"

Monday, March 17, 2008

Forgive Us Our Sins: The Fallacy of Mark-to-Market


excerpts from this week's report:

"Price does not equal fair value.



For traditionalists, this is a sacrilegious statement. Rooted in the principles of the 1950’s modern portfolio theory (MPT) and its bastard, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), traditionalists still insist on the rational investor fantasy applying at all times. The strong form of the EMH. And it is this principle that provides the theoretical, academic cover for the mark-to-market madness that is supporting the graveyard spiral of asset values infecting the markets of today.

Interestingly, more than a decade of advances in capital market theory, specifically behavioral finance, has not produced an advance in accounting rules as it relates to what constitutes fair value..."

"Lest one think that those caught in the maelstrom are innocent, let me be clear – they are not. For when bankers decided to securitize certain assets, they subjected themselves to the accounting rules of mark-to-market. Then, adding fuel to the asset value fire, certain bankers leveraged themselves in multiples of 10, 20, even..."

Investment Strategy Implications

"In Christendom, this is holy week. A time of faith. Therefore, let us pray that the powers that be realize that mark-to-market, in the form of price, does not equate to fair value at all times and for all assets."

also in this week's report:

* Expected Return Valuation Model
* Moving Averages Scorecard
* Model Growth Portfolio
* Sectors and Styles Market Monitor
* Key US Economic Indicators

*To gain access to this week's report (and all reports), click on the subscription information link to your left.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Quotable Quotes: Client 9



It was a rough week for Client 9. So, here’s a little advice:



“Remember, if you smoke after sex you're doing it too fast.”
Woody Allen

"I think people should be free to engage in any sexual practices they choose; they should draw the line at goats though."
Elton John.

"It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."
Winston Churchill

“Sex at age ninety is like trying to shoot pool with a rope.”
George Burns

Have a good weekend.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Technical Thursdays: A Non-confirmation Low in the Works



There are a number of fairly positive technical indicators that have the potential of giving a buy signal sooner rather than later – in time for a good spring rally.




Most of the indicators fall under the divergences principle*. The three charts posted are examples of what an investor might be on the lookout for.

The first chart is the granddaddy of all divergences principle – the Dow Theory. What may have gone unnoticed is the fact that when the Dow Industrials broke below their January lows earlier this week, the Dow Transports did not. The second chart helps probe a little further into why this was the case.

The second chart illustrates the primary components of the Dow Transports ETF – IYT. Weakness in Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG) has been more than overset by strength in Ryder (R), CSX, Burlington Northern (BNI), and Norfolk and Southern (NSC).

Note: From a fundamental perspective, BNI, for example, is projected to produce solid growth numbers this year. Moreover, doesn’t some guy from Omaha have a fairly large stake in BNI?

The third chart covers the beleaguered Financials sector. What I have added to the group are the Homebuilders ETF – XHB – given its ties to the financial crisis. The first thing that jumps out from this chart is how the credit crisis has migrated from the homebuilders to the broker dealers (IAI) and insurance (IAK). What seems to be key in this grouping is to watch for any signs of relative performance strength or at least an equaling of performance vis-à-vis the broad market (S&P 500). Should some level of price performance stability or no worse than even market performance develop, then the downward pressure exerted by Financials would diminish and, thereby, reduce the downward pressure on equities.

Investment Strategy Implications

Should the broad equity market indices break to a new low, the potential for a major non-confirmation exists. Now let's add a new low in the US dollar and Gold trading well above $1,000 an ounce. If all three factors occur, it is more than reasonable to assume that a general level of investor fear would set in with talk that the Fed is impotent (Can you hear it now: "If hundreds of billion of dollars can't turn stocks around, nothing will."). Accordingly, all of the above should set the stage for the capitulation phase to this mini bear/correction (see Tuesday’s blog).

Investor psychology is quite fragile. The stuff of capitulation and non-confirmation lows.

*See prior blog entries and reports for definitions and examples
**click images to enlarge

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Beyond the Sound Bite: An Interview with Bob Stein, CFA


My interview (conducted prior to the Fed's recent action) with the Senior Economist, First Trust Advisors includes a no recession call for 2008, Sovereign Wealth Funds, productivity growth, and the absence of political coattails for John McCain.


All Beyond the Sound Bite postings can be found at beyondthesoundbite.blogspot.com
To listen to this week's podcast interview, click here

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Value of Nothing


We haven’t reached it yet. The capitulation phase, that is. But we have certainly have entered the panic phase of the market decline.

Reason is being replaced with fear-based rationales justifying nearly every form of economic disaster conceivable. And at the center of the storm is the mark-to-market madness producing forced liquidations, which produce lower values, which produce forced liquidations, which produce…. I think you get the picture.


Apparently, like any bad illness, this panic fever has to run its course. And run its course it will. To illustrate this, take a moment to view the above chart*. Perhaps you can tell what phase of the greed/fear cycle the market is currently in.

Investment Strategy Implications

The panic of ’08 has entered the realm of unreason – a place where far too many “investors” know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

*click on image to enlarge

Monday, March 10, 2008

Spring Follows Winter

excerpts from this week's report:
"For many investors, it may hard to believe that an investment spring will follow this thus far awful winter. I realize that this bright view stands in stark contrast to steady end of the world news investors are experiencing. Yet, I will spare you my previously noted comments re valuation and the mirror image aspects of early 2008 versus the dreamlike Goldilocks state of early 2007. While these supportive factors for higher equity values have not disappeared from the scene, the spring song being sung here today refers to three other factors:

• Seasonal
• Technical
• Statistical

Here each are explained in some detail..."

also in this week's report:

* Expected Return Valuation Model
* Moving Averages Scorecard
* Model Growth Portfolio
* Sectors and Styles Market Monitor
* Key US Economic Indicators

*To gain access to this week's report (and all reports), click on the subscription information link to your left.

Friday, March 7, 2008

The US Economy: The Video

If left unchecked, the mark-to-market madness is likely to produce the following effect. (Make sure the sound is on.)



P.S. Is that Bernanke and Paulson at the wheel?

Have a good weekend. (At least try to.)

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Fed to Banks: It’s Your Fault


It’s hard to know what it will take for the central bankers of the world to come to the realization that liquidity conditions in the financial economy are in a very precarious position. One central banker, the ECB, seems hamstrung (or is it hidebound?) due to their single mission mandate of maintaining low inflation. Yet, it is the world's primary central banker, the US Federal Reserve, which does have the dual mandate of inflation fighting AND economic growth, that many look to for direction and support.

Since it is the US economy that is the real economy worry to investors, the Fed’s decision making should be understood as best as possible. In this regard, a careful reading of the recent numerous speeches made and congressional testimony given by Fed Governors appears to lead to the following conclusion:

The Fed is walking a fine and dangerous line between being supportive of the liquidity needs of the core of the banking system, the extent to which the US economy will slow, the risks of inflation due to the global growth story, and the moral hazard of bailing out bad banking and financial markets behavior. It does seem rather clear that its policy is to provide as much liquidity as needed to ensure that the core of the system does not collapse while at the same time allowing the market discipline to inflict a (hopefully) manageable level of pain on those who made the bad bets. It is this second part of the game plan that some investors misinterpret. For example,

There appears to be no way to interpret Fed Governor Krozner’s views as expressed this past Monday* other than to conclude that the banks got themselves into this mess and will need to find a way to get themselves out of it. As for solutions, Mr. Krozner notes that international banking regulators are "collaborating to understand the causes of the recent market turbulence and to identify steps to mitigate future problems". (Whew, glad to know that they are hard at work studying the situation.) Then there is his reference to "encouraging banks to maintain more robust liquidity buffers and develop contingency funding plans". Always good to hear words of encouragement.

Investment Strategy Implications

The market discipline philosophy apparently still lives at the Fed. For equity investors, however, the dangerous part of the Fed’s game plan resides in Soros' reflexivity - where the financial economy spreads to the real economy turning a moderate economic decline into a serious recession.

How this drama will play out? Frankly, no one knows as we are in unchartered waters. As for equities, as noted on Tuesday, according to my Expected Return Valuation Model**, stocks currently reflect the deep recession scenario. Should it appear that a deep recession can be avoided, stocks will have the economic justification for a spring rally (listen to the Stovall interview).

*”Liquidity-Risk Management in the Business of Banking”
**subscription required

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Beyond the Sound Bite: An Interview with Sam Stovall


My conversation with the Chief Investment Strategist of Standard and Poors' Equity Research Group includes a review of the historical monthly performance of equities (hint: February is the second worst month of the year), insights into selected US economic sectors, styles, and global markets.


All Beyond the Sound Bite postings can be found at beyondthesoundbite.blogspot.com
To listen to this week's podcast interview, click here

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Mark-to-Market Madness


It’s March, which for college basketball fans means March Madness. In the financial markets, investors are experiencing their own version of madness – Mark-to-Market madness. The idea that nearly every asset that could be priced should be priced and that price represents its fair value is absurd. Let me illustrate with the following example:


Say a homeowner has a fixed rate mortgage. Now let’s say in the mark-to-market world the bank holding that mortgage is able (required?) to continuously determine the asset value of that home based on comparable sales in the area. Suddenly, due to weakness in the housing market, the comparable homes in our homeowner’s area decline in value. What if the bank were then able to go to the homeowner and demand more money as the loan to asset ratio declined below the bank’s requirement? Demand more equity capital for an asset that the market says has declined in value. Mark-to-market in action.

Apparently, the mark-to-market madness has infected the mind of Fed Chairman Bernanke. Consider the following two segments from a recent Bloomberg article, which includes an exchange between Senator Chuck Schumer and Bernanke:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in congressional testimony on Feb. 28 that accounting rules may be forcing banks to put artificially low values on little-traded assets when they mark them to market. The inability to value such assets on the basis of actual trades, Bernanke said, is "one of the major problems that we have in the current environment. I don't know how to fix it. I don't know what to do about it.''

Later in the article, this:

Bernanke was responding to a question from Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, who said he had heard "from many people'' that the valuations have been "artificially low.'' That leads to a vicious cycle, he said, in which the writedowns sap bank capital and "they can't do any more lending and everything's frozen up.'' Schumer suggested one response might be to have a six-month grace period on mark-to-market. "You really don't know the value of the asset, and if you undervalue it, you may be hurting things as much as if you overvalue it.''

Bernanke didn't buy that idea.

"The risk on the other side is that if you do too much forbearance or delay mark-to-market, the suspicion will arise among investors that you're hiding something,'' he said, adding, "This is really an accounting board responsibility.''


Frankly, I am speechless. I don’t know which is worse – to admit that you have no idea how to fix a serious credit problem or to pass off responsibility of asset valuation methods to FASB. No wonder equity values tanked after the Fed Chairman spoke.

Investment Strategy Implications

If you are unfamiliar with George Soros’ reflexivity principle, I strongly suggest you get acquainted with it. The self-fulfilling nature of reflexivity is the feedback loop between the financial markets and the real economy.

The real economy is set to experience a moderate recession at worst. However, due to reflexivity, should conditions in the financial economy continue to deteriorate driven in large part by mark-to-market madness (thereby generating a graveyard spiral in asset values) the real economy may be in for a deep recession, possibly global in nature, thereby turning the currently extremely undervalued equity markets into a fair value reading.

Monday, March 3, 2008

Woe is Me (and you, and just about everyone else)


excerpts from this week's report:

"...valuation levels make it difficult to impossible for a rational investor to conclude that even a worse case scenario has not been priced into the market. But, then again who is to say that rational investors will rule the near-term day when fear, a strong component of irrational decision-making, is strong and getting more so. What’s worse is when fear is rooted in ignorance, or at least the lazy, superficial commentary that passes for analysis one hears so frequently in the media these days. I am specifically referring to the self-reinforcing nature of mark to market valuation and its downward spiral effect..."

Investment Strategy Implications

"The great risk is a seemingly never-ending parade of acronym disasters that come about due to a mark-to-market valuation method only. Should this mark-to-market only valuation madness not cease, a graveyard-like spiral will almost certainly drive fear higher and prices lower thereby overshooting any sane semblance of fair value..."

also in this week's report:

* Expected Return Valuation Model
* Moving Averages Scorecard
* Model Growth Portfolio
* Sectors and Styles Market Monitor
* Key US Economic Indicators

*To gain access to this week's report (and all reports), click on the subscription information link to your left.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

V - TV: BNN Interview

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of once again appearing on the Business News Network (BNN), the leading business network in Canada. The interview covered a wide range of issues, including the US GDP, consumer spending, hedge funds, Brazil, Chindia, Gold, Defense/Aerospace, and more.

The interview will remain posted on the BNN website for the next few days.

To view the six minute segment, click here, select Thursday, then scroll down to the Market Movers segment.