IT, See the following article: http://bit.ly/JqZkgV ======================... Allianz [ALV.PA Unavailable ()], with a total of about €1.7 trillion under management, has only 6 percent of its insurance portfolio in equities, while 90 percent is in bonds. A decade ago, 20 percent was in equities. It is far from alone: institutional investors, from pension funds to mutual funds sold directly to the public, have slashed holdings in the past decade. Stocks have not been so far out of favor for half a century. Many declare the “cult of the equity” dead. ======================...
That is pretty shocking. And per the FT article, plenty of former very large LT investors in the pension fund and other areas are following them out of equities and into bonds.
Best guess is that equities will have to fall considerably more in order to attract more buying interest from the big LT investors and so-called smart money. Such is likely the only way that equities can really fit into their risk profiles now.
Tax Policy: What Buffett Really Pays [View article]
A, It actually would be relatively simple to design a fair and efficient income taxation system, if TPTB would simply stick to basic principles and relative simplicity. But the first principle is that all income is the same - regardless of whether it is salary, wages, capital gains, tax exempt interest, retirement income, or whatever the source. The source makes NO DIFFERENCE. Every dollar received spends the same and should be taxed the same. One you establish that, it is relatively easy to design an income tax system with much lower progressive rates. Next you eliminate all deductions period, and just tax gross income. Again all progressive rates can then come way down. Next if tax policy is to be used it should only be done via direct tax credits not deductions, so that costs can clearly be identified and removed or added very easily year by year. And lastly all corporate taxes should be handled purely on GAAP net income with absolutely zero differences for taxable income and special corporate tax laws.
The problem is of course that the top 10% and all corporations benefit hugely from the massive tax preferences and absurd tax laws. And they would never agree to a simpler and fairer income taxation system. And the politicians would also never agree to a simple and fairer tax system, otherwise they have nothing to sell to special interests year after year to raise the billions in campaign contributions they get from the wealthy and corporations to game the income taxation system. But the reality is that all of us individual citizens end up paying for all of it.
SEC staff will not recommend any enforcement action against Lehman or any of its former executives after completing a probe of possible financial fraud there, reports Bloomberg. "Repo 105 is magical," tweets Josh Brown, "It makes losses disappear long enough to file a 10Q, then they come back until the next Q is due." [View news story]
The SEC probably doesn't even know what enforcement is ... they are just not that smart.
In the face of a nasty Greek exit from the eurozone, investors have little choice now but to cling to low-yielding U.S. government debt, says Pimco's Bill Gross. Despite our own debt mess, a flight from risk assets is going to continue to send money into Treasurys. "It's what we call the cleanest dirty shirt," Gross says; "at the moment the cleanest dirty shirt is the United States." [View news story]
klar, Yep, that's exactly right. One has to ask how happy are those who brought those dividend payers and are now down 25-50+% on their equity purchase prices. There are many many equities down 25-50+% from their 52-week highs. It really is only the mega-cap multinationals that are holding up now, and their turn will come for significant price declines as well.
Market recap: Stocks bounced off losses after Italian PM Monti said most leaders at the EU summit backed joint eurobonds and he'd push Germany to support them (good luck with that). Earlier, talk that China’s biggest banks may fall short of loan targets was driving stocks lower. The euro tumbled to a 22-month low near $1.25; crude oil eased back above $90. NYSE losers slightly outnumbered gainers. [View news story]
w, Yep it is very likely as was. 2nd day in a row of major "stick saves" at the close. Such were very common in 2010 & 2011 on about 25% of all trading days. But were not as necessary with QE & OT on. Now that Fed easing is off the table for now, they are back to the "stick save" strategy again.
The Case For 'Dollar Backwardation' [View article]
Interesting, but unlikely that electronic vs. physical dollars will trade any differently anytime soon. So long as one can go to a bank and get the electronic dollars in physical form there will be no significant discount due to the form.
The only reason one can get a discount for physical dollars now vs.electronic is essentially tax evasion via non-declared income for cash or the saving of the transaction fees for credit.
bic, The volumes have been pathetic. Nothing even close to capitulation type selling. Reports we have seen show that market volumes are about 30% below average for the past few years.
It is obvious, at least to us anyway, that leadership in equities is very very thin. It is maybe only the top & largest 100 or so equities that are still holding up the markets. A big big buyer (maybe the elusive PPT) is keeping these very large equities that dominate the major indices propped up. They are down very very little, say an average of maybe 5-10%. Whereas a very large number of the smaller and mid-cap equities are now down 25-60% for a whole bunch of them.
If the big multi-national and few leadership equities start to breakdown, the markets will decline much more significantly. And at some point the big boys will have to start selling some of these to raise cash to start covering the growing number of losers and rising margin calls.
Treasury Buyers Might Get Burned [View article]
See the following article:
http://bit.ly/JqZkgV
======================...
Allianz [ALV.PA Unavailable ()], with a total of about €1.7 trillion under management, has only 6 percent of its insurance portfolio in equities, while 90 percent is in bonds. A decade ago, 20 percent was in equities. It is far from alone: institutional investors, from pension funds to mutual funds sold directly to the public, have slashed holdings in the past decade. Stocks have not been so far out of favor for half a century. Many declare the “cult of the equity” dead.
======================...
That is pretty shocking. And per the FT article, plenty of former very large LT investors in the pension fund and other areas are following them out of equities and into bonds.
Best guess is that equities will have to fall considerably more in order to attract more buying interest from the big LT investors and so-called smart money. Such is likely the only way that equities can really fit into their risk profiles now.
A Simple Mining Insight [View article]
Tax Policy: What Buffett Really Pays [View article]
It actually would be relatively simple to design a fair and efficient income taxation system, if TPTB would simply stick to basic principles and relative simplicity. But the first principle is that all income is the same - regardless of whether it is salary, wages, capital gains, tax exempt interest, retirement income, or whatever the source. The source makes NO DIFFERENCE. Every dollar received spends the same and should be taxed the same. One you establish that, it is relatively easy to design an income tax system with much lower progressive rates. Next you eliminate all deductions period, and just tax gross income. Again all progressive rates can then come way down. Next if tax policy is to be used it should only be done via direct tax credits not deductions, so that costs can clearly be identified and removed or added very easily year by year. And lastly all corporate taxes should be handled purely on GAAP net income with absolutely zero differences for taxable income and special corporate tax laws.
The problem is of course that the top 10% and all corporations benefit hugely from the massive tax preferences and absurd tax laws. And they would never agree to a simpler and fairer income taxation system. And the politicians would also never agree to a simple and fairer tax system, otherwise they have nothing to sell to special interests year after year to raise the billions in campaign contributions they get from the wealthy and corporations to game the income taxation system. But the reality is that all of us individual citizens end up paying for all of it.
A Simple Mining Insight [View article]
A Simple Mining Insight [View article]
Thursday Thrust: Enough To Break On Through? [View article]
How Long Will The Stock Market Rebound Last? [View article]
SEC staff will not recommend any enforcement action against Lehman or any of its former executives after completing a probe of possible financial fraud there, reports Bloomberg. "Repo 105 is magical," tweets Josh Brown, "It makes losses disappear long enough to file a 10Q, then they come back until the next Q is due." [View news story]
In the face of a nasty Greek exit from the eurozone, investors have little choice now but to cling to low-yielding U.S. government debt, says Pimco's Bill Gross. Despite our own debt mess, a flight from risk assets is going to continue to send money into Treasurys. "It's what we call the cleanest dirty shirt," Gross says; "at the moment the cleanest dirty shirt is the United States." [View news story]
Yep, that's exactly right. One has to ask how happy are those who brought those dividend payers and are now down 25-50+% on their equity purchase prices. There are many many equities down 25-50+% from their 52-week highs. It really is only the mega-cap multinationals that are holding up now, and their turn will come for significant price declines as well.
Market recap: Stocks bounced off losses after Italian PM Monti said most leaders at the EU summit backed joint eurobonds and he'd push Germany to support them (good luck with that). Earlier, talk that China’s biggest banks may fall short of loan targets was driving stocks lower. The euro tumbled to a 22-month low near $1.25; crude oil eased back above $90. NYSE losers slightly outnumbered gainers. [View news story]
Yep it is very likely as was. 2nd day in a row of major "stick saves" at the close. Such were very common in 2010 & 2011 on about 25% of all trading days. But were not as necessary with QE & OT on. Now that Fed easing is off the table for now, they are back to the "stick save" strategy again.
The Case For 'Dollar Backwardation' [View article]
The only reason one can get a discount for physical dollars now vs.electronic is essentially tax evasion via non-declared income for cash or the saving of the transaction fees for credit.
Not Enough Panic? [View article]
The volumes have been pathetic. Nothing even close to capitulation type selling. Reports we have seen show that market volumes are about 30% below average for the past few years.
It is obvious, at least to us anyway, that leadership in equities is very very thin. It is maybe only the top & largest 100 or so equities that are still holding up the markets. A big big buyer (maybe the elusive PPT) is keeping these very large equities that dominate the major indices propped up. They are down very very little, say an average of maybe 5-10%. Whereas a very large number of the smaller and mid-cap equities are now down 25-60% for a whole bunch of them.
If the big multi-national and few leadership equities start to breakdown, the markets will decline much more significantly. And at some point the big boys will have to start selling some of these to raise cash to start covering the growing number of losers and rising margin calls.
Gold: A Seismic Move Is Coming [View article]
Time To Consider These Platinum ETFs? [View article]
Buying VIX Calls As A Portfolio Hedge [View article]