Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Medical Professionals Can Play Key Role In Preventing Financial Exploitation Of Seniors

Medical Professionals Can Play Key Role In Preventing Financial Exploitation Of Seniors (Investment News)

A national survey of 603 medical professionals, and cited by Investment News, found that 59% of doctors and nurses think cognitive impairment "very often" makes seniors vulnerable to financial exploitation. 33% think it makes seniors vulnerable "somewhat often." 

“Doctors and nurses must play an important front-line role if we are going to do a better job of spotting older Americans who have been or are being victimized by investment fraud and other financial exploitation,” said Don Blandin, CEO of Investor Protection Trust told Investment News. 80% said they could help fight such financial exploitation if they were taught to spot red flags.

5 Reasons Not To Abandon Non-U.S. Dividend Stocks Completely (Advisor Perspectives)

BlackRock's Russ Koesterich tells investors there are five reasons to be selective when abandoning non-U.S. dividend stocks at a time when bond yields are rising. 

1. "Over the long term, dividend paying stocks tend to outperform in both bull and bear markets." 2. Overseas U.S.-dividend companies still have attractive yields. 3. "The stocks are likely to continue to pay higher yields for the foreseeable future." 4. Non-U.S. dividend stocks are cheaper than those of dividend stocks in the U.S. 5. And the offer diversification.

A Chart Of Stocks, Bonds, Oil, Gold, And The National Debt Since 1850 (Global Financial Data)

The folks at Global Financial Data looked at the S&P 500, DJIA, gold, silver, West Texas Intermediate, total debt as a % of GDP, and the U.S. 10-year dating back to 1850. This chart shows that they are "they are all at or very close to all time highs with the exception of the US 10yr Yield which of course just bounced off an all time low."

DJIA gold 10 year Global Financial Data/Ralph Dillon


Former CFP Chair To Get Public Letter Of Admonition (Reuters)

Alan Goldfarb, the former chairman of the CFP Board, expects a "public letter of admonition" for violating its ethical standards, according to Reuters. The CFB board is expected to admonish him for misrepresenting himself as a fee-only advisor, when is said to have received a salary from one of his ventures as well. Goldfarb resigned from his position in November 2012.

Investors Have To Completely Rethink Their 2013 Playbook (The Reformed Broker (The Reformed Broker)

Investment strategies that worked at the start of the year aren't working as well anymore writes Josh Brown. This is because of two key reasons. "First, U.S. stocks are now coping with rising interest rates and the bond back-up. No one knows whether or not that's done for now. The yield on the 10-year, at 2.29%, is sitting at 14 month highs. Can't be ignored. This means the yield plays at best can stabilize but should probably not be loaded up on. Secondly, we're starting to pay more attention to the overseas stuff."

With that in mind Josh Brown says investors need to brace for much more volatility. "'d say position-sizing should probably come down as well. Lastly, I'd imagine that getting accustomed to gap-up and gap-down opens would be a good idea as well."


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Everyone Wants To Know Why The Dollar Is So Weak

Interest rates have been surging in the United States as concerns grow in the marketplace that the Federal Reserve will slow its bond purchases sooner than expected as economic data improves.

Yet the U.S. dollar index hit its lowest level since mid-February this morning, which seems counterintuitive – rising real interest rates should coincide with dollar strength (in recent months, the performance of the dollar has become correlated with risky assets like stocks as investors make bets on a U.S. economic comeback, whereas before, it was the opposite).

usd index Business Insider/Matthew Boesler, data from Bloomberg

Citi strategists Valentin Marinov and Josh O'Byrne say that "Why is dollar so weak? Will it last?" may be the most frequently asked question these days.

So, what's the answer?

Marinov and Byrne point out that dollar weakness as of late is only against a few certain currencies – the euro, the yen, the Swiss franc, and the British pound.

(The commonly-quoted U.S. dollar index is actually weighted 57.6% against the euro, 13.6% against the yen, 11.9% against the pound, and 3.6% against the franc, with the Swedish krona and the Canadian dollar rounding it out.)

Marinov and O'Byrne write:

So what is driving the dollar underperformance relative to EUR, JPY, CHF and GBP? The move can be explained by a combination of factors. We have highlighted in the past that investors maybe worried that a potential re-run of the 1994 episode, when the Fed was similarly moving closer to exiting easy policy, could leave the dollar vulnerable as the markets start to worry about the impact of rate tightening (QE tapering) on the USD-denominated assets.

We would also argue that some of the dollar underperformance could be related to the upcoming FOMC meeting next week. With market sentiment tanking and with both the ECB and the BoJ refusing to take measures to contain volatility, investors may be betting on more dovish Fed next Wednesday to try to dial down its tapering rhetoric. This leaves the dollar vulnerable against JPY and especially EUR.

Another driver of the USD underperformance could be the unwinding of dollar longs especially against JPY. Given that USDJPY depreciated by 20% between January and May this year, we could see some further positioning squeeze there. In the case of EURUSD we think that the resilience of the pair is related to continuing positioning unwind of euro shorts vis-à-vis G10 smalls.

The Citi strategists think the dollar weakness is only temporary, especially if the Fed fails to strike a dovish tone at next week's FOMC meeting.

"It is also worth highlighting that the latest back up in UST yields is not inconsistent with the steadily improving US economic conditions," say Marinov and O'Byrne. "We think that growing dollar rate advantage and further repatriation into the US should remain supportive for the greenback from here."


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Snag These 3 Agriculture ETFs While You Can

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Difference in the Details: New Fund Offers MLPs With an Interesting Twist

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Stocks Are Rallying After Good Economic Data, And Gold Is Getting Slammed


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RETAIL SALES RISE 0.6% IN MAY


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