The long awaited financial reform bill that has been in the making for almost two years looks like it is almost complete. It has yet to be voted on by the full Congress, but the bill has made it out of conference and will likely be signed into law before President Obama’s deadline of July 4th. (more…)

Most world stock markets rebounded broadly last week with all of the major U.S. indices closing higher. Most of the strongest performing sectors—technology, oil & gas and industrials—were the more economically-sensitive sectors that tend to do well during expansions and poorly during recessions. The exception was the normally-stodgy utilities sector which was up more than 4% on the week. (more…)

Consider two economies. Economy A has just experienced a scientific breakthrough that will probably increase productivity substantially in the years to come. Its public finances are strong, it is generally at peace with the rest of the world and it has been growing strongly. Economy B is just coming out of an economic shock like it hasn’t seen in decades. It has budget deficits as far into the future as the eye can see and unattractive borrowing costs. It is in seemingly-endless conflict with the rest of the world and growth is slow. If you could only invest in one of them today, which one would it be? (more…)

Major stock markets looked as if they would post another weekly gain until we got the unemployment report on Friday. While on the surface a declining unemployment rate and monthly job gains of 431,000 sound good, market participants didn’t see it that way. The problem is that 411,000 of the hires were census workers, and those workers will be let go once the census count is over. The private sector added only about 41,000 jobs, a disappointing number. (more…)

Given the 24-hour news cycle of constant doom-and-gloom, I have a question. If you hadn’t seen the table above and I asked you, “What did the market do last week?” what would you have answered? Up? Down? Booming? Crashing? While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down slightly last week, the broad market (S&P 500 and DJ U.S. Total Stock Market Index) was actually up. It was a mixed week overall, but with the wide price swings, it didn’t feel that way. I ask the question above in hopes that you, the reader, will consciously think about your own perceptions about investing. Are you affected by the doom-and-gloom news cycle? (more…)