That Was The Week That Was-4th Week March

 

Stocks Lose For The Week. The Nasdaq saw the worst week in 17 months, according to Dow Jones’s MarketWatch.com. Consumer spending was off in February. IPOs saw mixed action as investors got picky. Asian and European shares rose with Asian markets mostly up for the week.

What Every Retirement Portfolio Should Have, according to Rob Isbitts of Dow Jones.

1. Consistent Income
2. Preservation of capital
3. Liquidity
4. Competitive Costs
5. Long-term Growth

And while all that is good, Isbitts qualifies by reminding us if we’re investing we are realistically lucky to have two or three.

Wall Street Braces for deluge of IPOs. Mary Krantz reported in USA Today March 22nd that so far there have been 48 new issues this year! There will be more including two big China deals. One in particular is a dandy! But you still have to be cautious because it’s a Chinese company with a iffy management history. Investors who know they don’t qualify for any IPO stock can still take advantage through several ETFs.  Call me for their names and more information. pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com

Tucked away in a remote corner of a publication was this chart showing that the market performs by the day of the week- or has in 2014. This from the Bespoke Investment Group, that did the study. 3/24/2014

Markets Down Monday Naz off 50 points. Apple supposedly in talks with Comcast for streaming deal boosted shares but later another report said the WSJ report didn’t have their facts straight. U.S. stocks drop after economic data signaled a slowdown in manufacturing. The Markit Economics preliminary index of U.S. manufacturing decreased to 55.1 in March from 57.14 a month earlier. Anything over 50 shows expansion. Bloomberg 3/24/2014. The G-8 became the G-7 as Russia was voted out of the group. Some economists believe sanctions will throw the Russian economy into a recession. It won’t help the EU recovery or certain business groups in the U.S. either. Someone said we should flood the E.U. with our strategic oil reserves and that would bring the Russian’s to some sort of a conference. That’s assuming that the Russian leadership is willing to talk. This is chest thumping and flag waving time and that trumps common sense  every time.

‘Cody Willard reported in MarketWatch.com that markets were acting weak and that some fear was creeping back in. Momentum stocks were being hurt-bad. Biotech down 10% in the last 2 trading sessions, Cody reported Tuesday morning. He also believes that big banks and the Fed want gold to go lower before the end-game comes…someday. Yes, I’ve been reporting that as late as last week as GS said gold wouldn’t hold in 2014. In all pre-2014 predictions gold was a source expected not to do well.

There seems to be a ‘desperation’ to these markets. At least that was the sense Tuesday as the DJIA popped up almost 100 points, gold was up $5 and the wafting of M&A was in the air as FB acquired another company to its growing string. More news from MarketWatch.com as a list of 44 candidates that Morgan Stanley said could be soon acquired was published –3/26/2014. While The U.S. is on a fast-track to growing its government benefit programs other governments are looking for ways to divest some of their ‘stuff’. The WSJ reported that Australia plans on selling the country’s largest health insurer in an IPO. The country is looking for ways to raise money to update its infrastructure and thinks the best way of doing it is selling ‘stuff’ the country owns to private owners. Other assets that could be sold include the…wait for it…Australian Post Mail Service. New Zealand’s government raised billions of dollars selling shares in power generators and Air New Zealand,Ltd. The result is the country expects to see a surplus by 2015. Selling assets owned by the state is nothing new and could be a way to get roads and bridges fixed and save the postal service.

 

Wednesday Markets Sold Off- Up in the Early Going and Down Hill in the Afternoon. Cramer, on CNBC, said it was because the ‘Bigs’ were rotating out of secular companies, that do well in most any market, to cyclical stocks. This rotation, Cramer warned, will hurt investors for no good reason. It was the reason for the massive sell0ff in the biotechs earlier, he explained. The DJIA was off 114 points. Joeseph Greco, managing director of trading at Meridan Equity Partners, said the markets sold off when the President spoke and traders perceived a ‘tougher’ tone to the Russia-Ukraine situation. Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, said that 2014 is going to test traders fortitude for being long and it’ll be a grinding out kind of year.

 

 Rotation or Precursor for Correction? Markets have been acting weird..or weird-er. This included Thursday’s action which saw the social media stocks get crushed along with many of the momentum stalwarts …with possibly more hurt on the horizon. What sectors has been holding up are the usual suspects: Consumer staples, utilities and health care. A choppy sideways market will probably continue. Clues that investors have not lost all their common sense is the abysmal failure of Candy Crush IPO. If you’ve been an investor for any length of time these markets usually come after a BIG up year, so there shouldn’t be a surprise to this new found volatility. Remember last year there was no news bad enough to stop the choo-choo express from going higher. The markets simply shrugged off any and all news and marched on. This year- not so much.

Finally- Northern Trust’s Jim McDonald wrote: The investing climate isn’t as favorable as a year ago. 3/28 And Chuck Jaffe writes, ‘It’s Not 1929!’ More from Jaffe next week.

Information gathered from sources considered reliable and included WSJ, Barrons, CNBC, Bloomberg, and others.

Questions call Paul @ 586 295 0430 or write him at pstaney@westminsterfinancial.com. Share this blog with someone who cares about their money.

SECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH WESTMINSTER FINANCIAL SECURITIES, INC. MEMBER FINRA/SIPC.