IBM, a traditional IT legacy company, is in the mist of change; the landscape has changed and the company must adapt in order to continue to be successful. Adapting to this new environment the company must shift focus away from consulting, design, and implementation of one-off IT systems and into cloud services. Read more
The Christmas spirit is over and yet consumers have another reason to shop till they drop. Apart from unemployment improving which brings income to households, the persistent fall in oil prices gives an extra boost to consumers’ disposable income. According to a recent report by Morgan Stanley “a 15 percent move in gasoline prices is worth $60 billion at an annual rate in consumer spending power, which is nearly 0.5 percent of disposable personal income”. Read more
Everybody knows that in order to have a smooth ride on the road you need to have your car wheels checked often. Read more
The ability for investors to take out their smartphones, check the equity markets, and see volatility day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and second by second, results in one undisputed reaction: emotion. If markets go down they have to sell, if markets go up they have to buy. Many investors let the media drive their investment decisions ignoring their investment horizon and, most importantly, their long-term financial goals. Read more
The last 45 days have seen more than $4 trillion wiped off the value of global equities as many markets have fallen by double digits, seemingly in response to many worrying global events. It would be a valid question to ask whether equity markets, which are widely believed to be a discounting mechanism, are anticipating a worsening outlook and as such, poised to drop considerably further. Below, we address this question. Read more
Although many would disagree with the above expression, size does indeed matter when it comes to many things, including stocks. Whether choosing small caps, large caps or mega caps, investors will need to know when it’s time to switch and be on the right side of the trade. Read more
Finding a bottom in a stock is every investor’s dream but at the same time a rare event. This is because bottoming formations take months or even years to develop but once they happen they can lead to great returns. Read more
“The most bullish thing a market can do is get overbought and stay that way.” So said Alan Shaw, the legendary former head of technical analysis at Smith Barney. While health care stocks have been overbought for some time now, their uptrend continues to impress without signs of exhaustion. Read more
It would be unfair to say that we haven’t been warned. For a couple of weeks many leading indicators were showing signs of deterioration even though equity markets where reporting new highs (a phenomenon called negative divergence). One of those indicators was MACD, a momentum oscillator which measures the strength of the trend. Read more
By Nicos Cotsapas
Following last week’s article on funds to avoid, this week I will discuss what you should look for in finding the “best” funds. It’s important to note that seeking funds to invest in should only be done within the context of your overall asset allocation and risk profile.
20 January 2014 Read more →