Archives: June 2009

$70 Oil: The New Normal?

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 30

Few investments performed better than oil during 2009's second quarter. Black gold is up 44% for the second quarter and has traded near $70 for the past four weeks. But...

Banks Still Threatened by Toxic Assets

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 29

Investors appear to have put the banking crisis behind them, but they might want to reconsider. The Bank of International Settlement, an international organization of central banks, today announced today...

Growing Old: Is Retirement at Age 62 Still Possible?

Posted by: Lauren Young on June 29

Does anyone ever really retire? Not necessarily, according to a new study Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality by the Pew Research Center. Of the 2,969 adults surveyed, 83%...

Corporate Earnings: Is Less Bad Good?

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on June 26

July starts the earnings season, with 70% of the issues expected to report by month end. The period is usually marked by early volatility from investors trying to use the...

Should Money Market Funds Be Able to Break the Buck?

Posted by: Lauren Young on June 25

Should money market funds be allowed to “break the buck”? The Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled its money market fund recommendations yesterday. If there is any controversy to be found,...

And the Winner for Corporate Expenditure Cuts Goes to...

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on June 19

Last year’s race was between commodities to see which would hit $4 a gallon first – milk or gas. Milk won, and is still over $4 a gallon, but while...

Target-Date Fund Hearings on Thursday

Posted by: Amy Feldman on June 17

Whither the target-date fund? Washington will be looking at target-date funds tomorrow in a hearing sponsored by the Department of Labor and Securities and Exchange Commission. These funds, which were...

Revisiting the debate over Yale's investing guru, David Swensen

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on June 17

Back in mid-March, I came across a link to an interview with David Swensen, chief investment officer for Yale University’s endowment and author of the 2005 book Unconventional Success: A...

Number One Hedge Fund Strategy? Convertible Arbitrage

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 16

After a miserable 2008, hedge funds are rallying back this year. And no strategy has mounted a bigger comeback than convertible arbitrage, which is up 21.6% through the end of...

California's Credit Rating Poised for a Downgrade

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 16

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services put California on watch for a ratings downgrade today and it's not hard to see why. The Golden State's fiscal troubles appear unending. It has...

Is BlackRock-Barclays Good for ETFs?

Posted by: Lauren Young on June 12

Is it a good thing or a bad thing for exchange-traded funds that BlackRock has emerged as the buyer for the Barclays PLC's iShares unit? BlackRock is spending $13.5 billion...

Can a Revived Junk Bond Market Prevent a Loan Blowup?

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 08

Where's the next financial blowup coming from? The Deal's Vipal Monga lays out the case for the leverage loan market. $450 billion dollars of loans need to be repaid between...

PENSIONS: Work Till You Drop – If You Have A Job

Posted by: Howard Silverblatt on June 04

The full S&P 500 Pension and OPEB report, including a full listing of issues and data is available at our web site. I’ll start with the bottom line – pensions...

The Market Rally: How High Can Stocks Go?

Posted by: Ben Levisohn on June 02

On the heels of yesterday's 3% gain, stocks are taking a well-deserved breather. The Standard & Poor's 500 closed had finally busted though 930 -- a significant point of resistance....

Don't rush to buy Cisco and Travelers on Dow Average Inclusion

Posted by: Aaron Pressman on June 01

Conventional wisdom says there's money to be made buying stocks added to a major trading index. This morning comes news that Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Travelers (TRV) will be added...