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Posts related to ‘Bonds’

S&P Cuts Greece to ‘Selective Default’ (NBG)

Posted: February 27, 2012 at 4:47 pm

Greece has all but formally defaulted on its debt if you remove the winks and nods from the 'exceptions to the rules' of what constitutes a default.  Standard & Poor's ...
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Low Interest Rates Threatening Your Pension

Posted: February 21, 2012 at 5:00 pm

Have you been wondering what these extremely low interest rates are doing to pension plans?  Quite simply, they are driving up funding obligations of employers.  Fitch Ratings issued a report ...
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Economy Killer: $6 Trillion In Fake Treasury Bonds? Gold Next?

Posted: February 17, 2012 at 10:10 am

If you want to know about bizarre versions counterfeit, this one takes the cake.  A report out of Switzerland note that Italian anti-Mafia prosecutors ordered a seizure in Switzerland of... get this.. ...
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Fed Fund Futures Calling For December Rate Hike… In 2013

Posted: February 3, 2012 at 10:54 am

Fed Funds Futures are not widely used by Joe Public, and much of the public may not even understand or know what these are.  The layman explanation is that they ...
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ISM Data Rocking Bond Yields Higher After Jobs Data (TLT, TBT)

Posted: February 3, 2012 at 10:14 am

The Institute for Supply Management has issued its reading for January non-manufacturing and the data is strong.  Very strong.  At 56.8, this is the best reading in almost a ...
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Utopia Juice: Bernanke Hints QE3 (or QE4)

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 2:41 pm

The Federal Reserve has no more room cut interest rates.  About all it can do is to take the discount rate lower than the 0.75% but the target rate of ...
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New Lower Fed Long-Term Targets: Employment, Inflation, GDP & Rates

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 2:16 pm

The Fed is going to continue on its dual-mandate of inflation and employment as it stated that it will take a balanced approach to maintain price stability and to promote ...
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Fed Now Keeping Near-Zero Rates Through Late-2014… QE4?

Posted: January 25, 2012 at 12:41 pm

This was definitely going to be a different sort of FOMC day with the way that the new communications are going to show more of the inner-thinking of the Federal ...
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Junk Bonds At Critical Juncture, Dividends & Yields Galore (JNK, HYG, PHB, HYV, PHT, PHK, AWF, HIX, HIO)

Posted: January 20, 2012 at 11:11 am

Junk bonds, or high-yield bonds are at a level that all income investors need to be paying attention to.  After a big recovery in the sector and after the markets ...
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S&P Lives Up To Downgrades Of France, Austria, Italy, Spain, & Portugal

Posted: January 13, 2012 at 5:22 pm

Standard & Poor's managed to live up to the rumor mill's expectations on this Friday the 13th.  S&P has now formally downgraded several European nations' sovereign credit ratings. France and ...
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S&P European Downgrades Driving Home (EWQ, EWG, EWO, ALU)

Posted: January 13, 2012 at 10:38 am

The rumors that Standard & Poor's is set to downgrade certain European nations after the close is putting pressure on financial markets this Friday.  Is it fitting that it is ...
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The Story of Negative Yields in Germany (BUNL, BUND, BUNT)

Posted: January 9, 2012 at 9:12 am

Europeans are seeking safety in the same manner in which investors in the United States sought safety during times after the stock market crash.  Imagine selling a bond issuance at ...
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The 24/7 Wall St. 2012 Model Dividend Portfolio (AEP, AWK, T, GE, GOV, KMB, SNH, WMT, JNK, AMJ, AMLP, PGF, MO, DLR, EPD, KMP)

Posted: January 5, 2012 at 2:41 pm

It seems that most investors have started adding income or dividend reinvestment plans to their portfolios by using dividend stocks. With the yields of the 10-Year Treasury close to 2% ...
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ETFs Winning & Losing Fund Flows Into Year-End (GLD, XLV, FXI, SPY, XLK, EFA)

Posted: December 28, 2011 at 2:46 pm

TrimTabs is showing what many investors might have expected.  After such a volatile year in the stock market, investors are seeking safety in the nearly no-income offered by bond funds and ...
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Korean Credit Ratings Safe After Kim Jong-Il Death (EWY, SKOR, KF, KEF, PKX, KEP, SKM)

Posted: December 22, 2011 at 9:33 am

If there was one issue which may have created uncertainty around the credit ratings of South Korea, it was the death of dictator Kim Jong-Il in North Korea.  We just recently ...
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