Doug Roberts is the Founder and Chief Investment Strategist of FollowtheFed.com, a company specializing in simple investment strategies designed to outperform the markets by analyzing the monetary and credit policies of the Federal Reserve Bank. He has been a Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Bernstein Investment Management and Research and Managing Director of the Roberts Mitani Group, a New York merchant bank specializing in the investment of capital from East Asia. Doug began his career with the Morgan Stanley Group working in the Corporate Finance department in both the New York and London offices. He earned a B.S. and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
He joins Blogging Stocks as a columnist on Fed Policy. The following Q&A explains his basic investment strategy:
How important is the Federal Reserve Bank with regard to the trends in the stock markets?
Historically, it is the single most important influence. The Fed's monetary and credit policies, and how they affect small vs. large cap stocks, is at the core of my research and the investment strategies I have developed.
Why is the performance of small and large cap stocks tied so closely with Fed policy?
Small cap stocks outperform large cap stocks in the long run, but in spurts within shorter time periods when money is easily available. At other times, the edge is with the large caps. My strategies analyze the balance and timing of these trends relative to moves by the Fed.
What does this mean to the average investor?
It allows you to significantly outperform the markets over an extended period of time (as represented by the S&P 500) with less than one or two trades every couple of years.
Stocks have their worst week in six years
Why haven't the Republicans said much about the economy?
Chasing Value: Are you watching WaMu?
