Tuesday Musings 2nd Week March

• CNBC reported the bull market has officially survived one-year and odds are it'll keep on trucking. Historically there was one bull that lasted only 392 days and that happened in 1948. With some 9 trillion dollars of investor money on the sidelines there is plenty of room to grow. Monday, March 8Th saw the markets go sideways as AIG sold to MetLife their foreign insurance company. Equity mutual funds reported their cash reserves the lowest since 2007. This has been the quickest decrease since 1991. Jerome Dodson, President of Parnassus, estimates the S&P 500 will climb 6-9% this year. Tuesday markets languished and finally moved mid-afternoon. Cisco announced revolutionary product and over-hyped their latest $90,000 router. Cash rich Cisco plans on hiring 2-3,000 people over the next few months. Oil and gold both moved lower. China repeated that it is and will continue to be a responsible investor in U.S. Treasuries. Yi Lang, director of China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, also said gold doesn't offer good long-term returns because of price swings. Tighter monetary policy may also be in the cards for China as inflationary pressures saw CPI soar 2.7% in February. Wednesday markets flat with metals off and crude up 60 cents. Markets spent the day awaiting news from Citi which continued its run into Thursday. The financials lead with metals again flat. S&P rallied to its highest level since 2008. Michael Holland of Holland and Company said market fundamentals have been improving. DOW up 45 points. Friday saw the markets with no direction as analysts and investors looked for any news to either buy or sell. Gold down. For the week markets up, making that 2 in a row.

• Another Market pullback in the offing? From Barrons Streetwise the Mystery Broker is at it again and suggests something of the size and magnitude of the earlier 2010 drop of 9%. No bear call.

• Lalalalalalala....according to Jack VanDerhei of Employee Benefit Research Institute, only 46% of all workers have tried to calculate what they need for a comfortable standard of living in their 'golden' years. People just don't want to think about it, said VanDerjei. The workers who have less than $10,000 in their retirement plans grew to 43% of all workers.
  
• Keith Goddard, CEO of President Capital Advisors, in a Barrons interview explained the value of buying blue chip companies, comparing a 6 1/2% dividend with a 3 1/2% 10-year Treasury yield. Ahhh, pretty much a no-brainer.
  
• Americans net worth increased albeit slightly, an increase albeit is an increase nonetheless. However, still below pre-depression levels.
  
• What stocks, you ask, are loaded with cash? Apple, Cisco, Dell, Toyota, Ford, Nokia and Sprint-Nextell. Some have debt, some don't, some you should buy now, some you shouldn't. And you thought investing was easy?
  
• Global oil demand UP says those with the bestest crystal balls. Forecast is driven by China's increased demand. Gas should be UP at the pump again this summer.
  
• Fertilizer stocks soared after Potash Corp reported a sharp increase in potash demand. Across the board potash company shares, which have been sluggish at best, soared 3-11% Friday.
  
• City of Detroit sold $250 million in junk bonds. The bonds are backed by future revenue sharing payments from the state. Demand was double what was available. Most of it, if not all, institutional.
  
• Three more banks were closed last week bringing the total for the year to 20 and 195 since the depression started.

  Have you registered for my inflation webinar? Go back to my website and register, please. The meeting will last less than an hour and we'll discuss the coming inflation crisis and what you should do.

  If you have questions on anything contained in this blog please write to Paul Stanley at pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com or call 1-877-783-7080.