Americans just don't know what to believe any more. The Europeans have it easy: as investors, they believe in Americans. We don't have as much confidence, though. A recent survey by AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (AXA) found that less than 20% of Americans are confident in their abilities to invest in the stock market, despite the fact that 60% believe they need to throw some equities in their portfolios.

In recent years, equities have made people nervous. Following the global financial crisis, the S&P 500 Index lost 37% of its value. It's a tune we've all heard before, though. Similar sentiments followed the 1987 market crash and the collapse of the dot-com economy. True to form, investors reacted, pulling a whopping $242.7 billion out of equity funds in 200 and 2009 and allocating $401.7 billion into bond funds, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Continue reading Americans Have Trouble Trusting Equities

Americans Have Trouble Trusting Equities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Its sights set on the United States and Asia, South Korea's $30 billion sovereign wealth fund is hunting for equities. Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) doesn't see bonds outperforming stocks over the long term, which is what has prompted the move.

Once the reallocation is executed, equities will account for half of KIC's "traditional" investments. Today, it stands at 40%. High quality equities and fixed income securities comprise 90% of KIC's portfolio, with the rest, one would gather, consisting of "non-traditional" investments.

Continue reading Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities

Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gross is obviously talking his book but in my interview with him, he made a very interesting point. He suggested that since bonds and preferred stock are senior to common stocks in the liquidation hierarchy of a company, in a slow growth environment, there is no upside to stocks, only downside.

Continue reading Bill Gross and the death of equities

Bill Gross and the death of equities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading The Dow corrects: Now what?

The Dow corrects: Now what? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Nov 2007 12:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In case you weren't sure what certain Street terms mean, here's a short guide - from a Permabull's perspective, of course.

Analysts. Highly paid cheerleaders who figure out ways to make stocks appear cheap

Bad news. Events that cause the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates so that share prices go up

Bears. Sad, lonely people who don't appreciate why equity prices invariably move higher

Brokers. Specially-trained relationship managers who convert mere mortals into super-bulls

Bulls. Well-bred equity investors

Bond market. The place where stock market bears are sent out to pasture for their wayward views

Cash. Realized gains that equity investors spend on fancy vacations and assorted luxury items

Dividends. A positive influence on stock prices

Economy. An irrelevant side show to what happens in the equity market

Fear. An emotion that bulls experience when they are not 100% invested

Federal Reserve Board. A group of public officials who do their best to ensure that bulls are happy

Fundamentals. Anything that can help explain why stock prices rally

Greed. The only emotion that matters when it comes to playing the stock market

Hedge funds. Aggressive investors who use lots of leverage to ensure that stock prices eventually go up

Interest rates. A factor that occasionally serves as an explanation for why stocks rally

Leverage. The fail-safe strategy of using borrowed money to boost returns as share prices rise

Losses. The net result of selling short and listening to bond traders

Mutual funds. Investment vehicles that enable bulls to remain fully invested in the equity market at all times

Short-sellers. Dour individuals who scramble to cover bad bets as stock prices rally

Strategists. Highly paid cheerleaders who figure out ways to make stocks appear cheap

Wall Street. The place where bulls congregate and fawn over one another

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle: An Insider's Guide to Successful Investing in a Changing World.

The Permabull's Guide to Wall Street Lingo (Pocket edition) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stocks To Sell is an occasional column analyzing market trends and highlighting equities investors might want to avoid for now.

Stocks often get hammered after reporting weak earnings. But often the worst carnage comes during the weeks leading up to earnings season -- the period of time we're in now. That's when companies get their first inklings that they may not meet Wall Street targets and have no choice but to go public with that information. Inevitably, the stock gets slammed on the Street's reaction to such negative surprises.

Warnings often hit whole sectors. It may sound lame (and often is) when companies blame their weakness on external events like the weather or economic conditions. But such excuses can also be quite legitimate. The following are some trends that could (or already have) trigger earnings warnings in certain sectors -- and some stocks you might need to worry about:

Dining slump: On June 21, Cheesecake Factory Inc (NASDAQ: CAKE) warned that higher costs and and industry softness would mean its second quarter growth would not be as high as forecast. Analysts downgraded the shares and the stock fell 7% that day to $24.85. Analysts think the company is well-run, but say higher gas prices have hurt restaurants and higher food costs, including dairy costs, have hurt profit margins. Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), too, faces higher costs and continues to slide, especially after the CFO commented recently that it would be hard for the company to meet its 2007 earnings targets.

Continue reading Stocks to Sell: Worrying about earnings warnings

Stocks to Sell: Worrying about earnings warnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Higher 10-year bond is not necessarily a bad thing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

All that glitters is gold (and copper): Freeport agrees to buy Phelps Dodge for $25.9 billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.