Marc Gerstein - Seeking Alpha 'Marc Gerstein' Tag RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.com/author/marc-gerstein The William O'Neil Strategy: A Quest for Upside Surprise http://seekingalpha.com/article/174195-the-william-o-neil-strategy-a-quest-for-upside-surprise?source=feed 174195 Let the good times roll! That pretty much has to be your mindset if you want to try to invest using the CANSLIM concepts presented by William O'Neil. When it comes to investment attributes, it seems like he demands just about everything -- except value. This is reflected in the track record of the model we built based upon his ideas. Relative to our full collection of all-star models, this one was top ranked during four-week periods in which the market rose, but ran dead last during periods when the market fell (performance was still positive, but the average gain was smaller than we saw with the other strategies).

But don't get the idea that this is a fluffy ride-what's-hot strategy. The companies that pass muster, here, are embody very solid growth stories.

]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:51:12 -0500 Marc Gerstein Let the good times roll! That pretty much has to be your mindset if you want to try to invest using the CANSLIM concepts presented by William O'Neil. When it comes to investment attributes, it seems like he demands just about everything -- except value. This is reflected in the track record of the model we built based upon his ideas. Relative to our full collection of all-star models, this one was top ranked during four-week periods in which the market rose, but ran dead last during periods when the market fell (performance was still positive, but the average gain was smaller than we saw with the other strategies).

But don't get the idea that this is a fluffy ride-what's-hot strategy. The companies that pass muster, here, are embody very solid growth stories.


Complete Story »]]> AAPL AMZN MED CNU CACC Marc Gerstein Amazon.com, The Value Police and Multiple Markets http://seekingalpha.com/article/173323-amazon-com-the-value-police-and-multiple-markets?source=feed 173323 Describing Amazon.com (AMZN) as an overvalued stock, which I’ve often seen, is about as sensible as criticizing the New York Yankees for never having beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Case in point: The November 13 Seeking Alpha article entitled Amazon-Sized Craziess, wherein Anthony Davian goes through a long recitation on Ben Graham and Mr. Market (if you’re unfamiliar with the latter allegory, Davian summarizes it well) and how he wound up sticking with AMZN despite its exorbitant valuation. I like his conclusion, I like AMZN (though I don’t own it right now), but feel a need to address the pat on the back the author gave himself for having stuck with AMZN despite warnings by the value police, as well as the misplaced attitude of the latter.

]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:12:27 -0500 Marc Gerstein Describing Amazon.com (AMZN) as an overvalued stock, which I’ve often seen, is about as sensible as criticizing the New York Yankees for never having beaten the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Case in point: The November 13 Seeking Alpha article entitled Amazon-Sized Craziess, wherein Anthony Davian goes through a long recitation on Ben Graham and Mr. Market (if you’re unfamiliar with the latter allegory, Davian summarizes it well) and how he wound up sticking with AMZN despite its exorbitant valuation. I like his conclusion, I like AMZN (though I don’t own it right now), but feel a need to address the pat on the back the author gave himself for having stuck with AMZN despite warnings by the value police, as well as the misplaced attitude of the latter.


Complete Story »]]> AMZN Marc Gerstein Peter Lynch Portfolio: It's About the Haystack, Not the Backyard http://seekingalpha.com/article/171368-peter-lynch-portfolio-it-s-about-the-haystack-not-the-backyard?source=feed 171368 Peter Lynch may be one of the most beloved among the investment all-stars. Back when his he ran the Fidelity Magellan fund, his track record served as a whopping in-your face to academicians who taught that nobody could consistently outperform the market.

But Lynch was never the only great stock-picker, as is evident from other all-stars whose work has inspired us and others to create models based upon their ideas. Numbers aside, when it comes to just-plain lovability, it's always seemed to be a neck-and-neck race between Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, with affection for the latter springing from the backyard investing with which he's most readily associated.

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:34:10 -0500 Marc Gerstein Peter Lynch may be one of the most beloved among the investment all-stars. Back when his he ran the Fidelity Magellan fund, his track record served as a whopping in-your face to academicians who taught that nobody could consistently outperform the market.

But Lynch was never the only great stock-picker, as is evident from other all-stars whose work has inspired us and others to create models based upon their ideas. Numbers aside, when it comes to just-plain lovability, it's always seemed to be a neck-and-neck race between Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, with affection for the latter springing from the backyard investing with which he's most readily associated.


Complete Story »]]> AGII ECOL MAS ISH TIN GMCR Marc Gerstein Beware of GAAP Again http://seekingalpha.com/article/166729-beware-of-gaap-again?source=feed 166729 When times are tough investors and members of the financial media love to bash analysts and corporate executives, especially when it comes to issues relating to accounting. After all, it's still less than a decade since some once-mighty corporations were brought low by accounting scandals. But please, please, please don't go overboard and assume that accountants are the ones who are always providing the most helpful information. Notwithstanding some occasional abuses (every profession has some bad apples), security analysis in general is honest work and can provide insights that are much more useful to investors. Unfortunately, however, it's GAAP that sometimes obscures economic reality.

Back in June 2009, I wrote about the problems with the way operating profit is reported, specifically, how this item can be heavily distorted by unusual gains and expenses. I showed why it's important for analysts to create an alternative measure of profits that provides a more useful basis for making assumptions about the future, a practice inspired directly from the most revered masters of security analysis: Graham and Dodd.

]]> Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:57:33 -0400 Marc Gerstein When times are tough investors and members of the financial media love to bash analysts and corporate executives, especially when it comes to issues relating to accounting. After all, it's still less than a decade since some once-mighty corporations were brought low by accounting scandals. But please, please, please don't go overboard and assume that accountants are the ones who are always providing the most helpful information. Notwithstanding some occasional abuses (every profession has some bad apples), security analysis in general is honest work and can provide insights that are much more useful to investors. Unfortunately, however, it's GAAP that sometimes obscures economic reality.

Back in June 2009, I wrote about the problems with the way operating profit is reported, specifically, how this item can be heavily distorted by unusual gains and expenses. I showed why it's important for analysts to create an alternative measure of profits that provides a more useful basis for making assumptions about the future, a practice inspired directly from the most revered masters of security analysis: Graham and Dodd.


Complete Story »]]> SPY DIA Marc Gerstein Happy Anniversary... Sort of http://seekingalpha.com/article/166568-happy-anniversary-sort-of?source=feed 166568 It’s been about a year since the stock market fell off the cliff and every strategy seemed to go bad. Can we finally put that to rest and go back to modeling?

The late-2008 stock-market collapse was pretty bad, especially last October. We all know that. But even more frustrating, imagining that anything can be more frustrating than the vigor of the decline, was the way supposedly prudent strategies failed to help investors mitigate the collapse.

]]> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:17:12 -0400 Marc Gerstein It’s been about a year since the stock market fell off the cliff and every strategy seemed to go bad. Can we finally put that to rest and go back to modeling?

The late-2008 stock-market collapse was pretty bad, especially last October. We all know that. But even more frustrating, imagining that anything can be more frustrating than the vigor of the decline, was the way supposedly prudent strategies failed to help investors mitigate the collapse.


Complete Story »]]> SPY IVV Marc Gerstein Warren Buffett Portfolio: Going Beyond the Folksy Stereotypes to Find All-Star Stocks http://seekingalpha.com/article/153995-warren-buffett-portfolio-going-beyond-the-folksy-stereotypes-to-find-all-star-stocks?source=feed 153995 As all-star investors go, Warren Buffett is, perhaps, the most intriguing. Many of us think we know what he's all about: value, good company management, best-in-class companies that will be on top forever, etc. Actually, though, there can be wide gaps between the homespun folksy image that's been built around him and the modern reality, which in some ways, can look more like an aggressive hedge fund. But once we come to grips that no quantitative model can actually turn us into Buffett clones, we find that we can still use certain core Buffett philosophies to come up with an interesting model that, performance-wise, can hold its own in Omaha, New York, or even the moon.

Be careful about the Buffett image

]]> Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:08:51 -0400 Marc Gerstein As all-star investors go, Warren Buffett is, perhaps, the most intriguing. Many of us think we know what he's all about: value, good company management, best-in-class companies that will be on top forever, etc. Actually, though, there can be wide gaps between the homespun folksy image that's been built around him and the modern reality, which in some ways, can look more like an aggressive hedge fund. But once we come to grips that no quantitative model can actually turn us into Buffett clones, we find that we can still use certain core Buffett philosophies to come up with an interesting model that, performance-wise, can hold its own in Omaha, New York, or even the moon.

Be careful about the Buffett image


Complete Story »]]> HUM HS PTI ADM JOSB TIE APOG OLN SAY SNX GTLS INT LUFK SCSC JEC BRK.A Marc Gerstein Ben Graham Portfolio: Snazzy Returns from a Vintage Strategy http://seekingalpha.com/article/152849-ben-graham-portfolio-snazzy-returns-from-a-vintage-strategy?source=feed 152849 When it comes to all-star investors, Ben Graham is iconic, being half the Graham-and-Dodd team widely credited with inventing fundamental stock analysis back in the 1930s. But don't think, for even a single minute, that his approach is quaint, old fashioned, or anything like that. The stocks now favored by the Portfolio123.com Graham model, depressed cyclicals and oilfield service firms, are not glamorous. But the performance record of this model shows returns that ought to be snazzy enough by anyone's standards.

Playing offense by playing defense

]]> Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:16:10 -0400 Marc Gerstein When it comes to all-star investors, Ben Graham is iconic, being half the Graham-and-Dodd team widely credited with inventing fundamental stock analysis back in the 1930s. But don't think, for even a single minute, that his approach is quaint, old fashioned, or anything like that. The stocks now favored by the Portfolio123.com Graham model, depressed cyclicals and oilfield service firms, are not glamorous. But the performance record of this model shows returns that ought to be snazzy enough by anyone's standards.

Playing offense by playing defense


Complete Story »]]> SPAR APOG MKTAY OLN TDW Marc Gerstein Reverse Convertibles and 'EIPs' – Here’s The Point http://seekingalpha.com/article/144300-reverse-convertibles-and-eips-heres-the-point?source=feed 144300 For the uninitiated, a reverse convertible (or structured product) is a short-term debt instrument that usually pays an above-market rate of interest but contains a provision that could allow the borrower to repay principal, not in cash, but in stock. The shares usually aren’t the shares of the company that borrows the money. Citibank, for example, might issue a reverse convertible that could, under certain condition, be repaid in shares of, say, Apple. The equity repayment provision is usually activated by a decline in the price of the specified stock (20%or so, even if the decline is only temporary, with the details specified in the debt documentation).

In one of several reverse-convertibles articles featured recently on the Seeking Alpha home page, James Kwak asks: “What the hell is the point of this product?”

]]> Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:51:17 -0400 Marc Gerstein For the uninitiated, a reverse convertible (or structured product) is a short-term debt instrument that usually pays an above-market rate of interest but contains a provision that could allow the borrower to repay principal, not in cash, but in stock. The shares usually aren’t the shares of the company that borrows the money. Citibank, for example, might issue a reverse convertible that could, under certain condition, be repaid in shares of, say, Apple. The equity repayment provision is usually activated by a decline in the price of the specified stock (20%or so, even if the decline is only temporary, with the details specified in the debt documentation).

In one of several reverse-convertibles articles featured recently on the Seeking Alpha home page, James Kwak asks: “What the hell is the point of this product?”


Complete Story »]]> Marc Gerstein Beware of GAAP http://seekingalpha.com/article/143116-beware-of-gaap?source=feed 143116 Watch out for GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). It can diminish your investment performance. Seriously.

One of the worst things to come out of the early-decade Wall Street scandals was the tendency it fostered, among frightened investors and crusading journalists to mistrust the adjustments analysts make to reported financials. Now, with the economy moving or preparing to move out of recession, it especially important to put a lid on the politics of accounting and get serious about how one ought to be looking at the numbers.

]]> Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:04:48 -0400 Marc Gerstein Watch out for GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). It can diminish your investment performance. Seriously.

One of the worst things to come out of the early-decade Wall Street scandals was the tendency it fostered, among frightened investors and crusading journalists to mistrust the adjustments analysts make to reported financials. Now, with the economy moving or preparing to move out of recession, it especially important to put a lid on the politics of accounting and get serious about how one ought to be looking at the numbers.


Complete Story »]]> DIA SPY QQQQ Marc Gerstein Time to Show Some Love to the Sell-Side? http://seekingalpha.com/article/142719-time-to-show-some-love-to-the-sell-side?source=feed 142719 Back in my days at Reuters.com, when I felt feisty and wanted to generate some angry reader e-mails, I had a sure-fire formula: write an article extolling benefits of following sell-side analysts. That never failed to produce a deluge, regardless of what the performance numbers really showed.

Then came 2007-08, when every strategy, it seems, struggled - including those that involved use of analyst recommendations and/or earnings estimates.

]]> Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:38:33 -0400 Marc Gerstein Back in my days at Reuters.com, when I felt feisty and wanted to generate some angry reader e-mails, I had a sure-fire formula: write an article extolling benefits of following sell-side analysts. That never failed to produce a deluge, regardless of what the performance numbers really showed.

Then came 2007-08, when every strategy, it seems, struggled - including those that involved use of analyst recommendations and/or earnings estimates.


Complete Story »]]> EME DCP INT RDC PETM DECK GCO ROST CRR ARO Marc Gerstein ETF Ideas from Mr. Market http://seekingalpha.com/article/142077-etf-ideas-from-mr-market?source=feed 142077 Do you like what’s hot or do you like what’s not? Put another way, are you a momentum player or are you a contrarian? Practitioners of technical analysis would phrase it like this: Do you prefer trending systems or those based on oscillators? Equity investors have long pondered such questions. But nowadays, with the ETF universe having become as large as it has, it becomes important here too.

Perhaps Mr. Market can help us decide which type of strategy we should pursue for a particular stock, or in the case of this article, ETF.

]]> Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:22:04 -0400 Marc Gerstein Do you like what’s hot or do you like what’s not? Put another way, are you a momentum player or are you a contrarian? Practitioners of technical analysis would phrase it like this: Do you prefer trending systems or those based on oscillators? Equity investors have long pondered such questions. But nowadays, with the ETF universe having become as large as it has, it becomes important here too.

Perhaps Mr. Market can help us decide which type of strategy we should pursue for a particular stock, or in the case of this article, ETF.


Complete Story »]]> IDX DSG ONEQ USO USL SPY UGA JKK GML IWO Marc Gerstein GM Bankruptcy: Time for New-Era Auto Opportunities http://seekingalpha.com/article/140787-gm-bankruptcy-time-for-new-era-auto-opportunities?source=feed 140787 General Motors (GM) filed for bankruptcy. The sun is still shining. The air is still breathable, or at least no less so than yesterday. The water is still wet. The earth is not shaking. Our economy is still capitalist (true the U.S. will get a 60% stake in GM but seriously, anybody who has trouble distinguishing between Obama on the one hand and Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, etc. on the other has bigger problems than the stock market to worry about). And by the way, the beat-up minivan I’m driving is not getting any younger.

]]> Tue, 02 Jun 2009 03:05:17 -0400 Marc Gerstein General Motors (GM) filed for bankruptcy. The sun is still shining. The air is still breathable, or at least no less so than yesterday. The water is still wet. The earth is not shaking. Our economy is still capitalist (true the U.S. will get a 60% stake in GM but seriously, anybody who has trouble distinguishing between Obama on the one hand and Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, etc. on the other has bigger problems than the stock market to worry about). And by the way, the beat-up minivan I’m driving is not getting any younger.


Complete Story »]]> ALV DORM GMGMQ.PK GPC LKQX SUP Marc Gerstein Technology Retailing: Best Buy and... Radio Shack? http://seekingalpha.com/article/140315-technology-retailing-best-buy-and-radio-shack?source=feed 140315 Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen. Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. WalMart (WMT) and Target (TGT). Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton.

Do you notice how often success stories involve pairs? It’s not always necessary that both parties be equally proficient, though in many areas of life, it definitely helps. That’s especially so in the world of business, where we value choice, or in the language of antitrust jurisprudence, competition.

]]> Fri, 29 May 2009 13:42:54 -0400 Marc Gerstein Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippen. Babe Ruth and Lou Gherig. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. WalMart (WMT) and Target (TGT). Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton.

Do you notice how often success stories involve pairs? It’s not always necessary that both parties be equally proficient, though in many areas of life, it definitely helps. That’s especially so in the world of business, where we value choice, or in the language of antitrust jurisprudence, competition.


Complete Story »]]> BBY RSH WMT COST AMZN Marc Gerstein Hewlett-Packard's Silver Linings http://seekingalpha.com/article/139085-hewlett-packard-s-silver-linings?source=feed 139085 By now, it’s well known that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) laid an egg Tuesday afternoon when it reported second-quarter numbers. It was bad enough to see EPS fall from $0.80 in the year-earlier period to $0.70 in the latest quarter. But adding to the gloom were the eye-catching declines in some key product categories (19% for PCs, 23% for printer supplies and sales, and 28% for the server and storage division) and management’s gloomy guidance for upcoming quarters. In response, the stock fell about 5 percent Wednesday and underperformed an already-weak market Thursday morning.

]]> Fri, 22 May 2009 04:38:43 -0400 Marc Gerstein By now, it’s well known that Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) laid an egg Tuesday afternoon when it reported second-quarter numbers. It was bad enough to see EPS fall from $0.80 in the year-earlier period to $0.70 in the latest quarter. But adding to the gloom were the eye-catching declines in some key product categories (19% for PCs, 23% for printer supplies and sales, and 28% for the server and storage division) and management’s gloomy guidance for upcoming quarters. In response, the stock fell about 5 percent Wednesday and underperformed an already-weak market Thursday morning.


Complete Story »]]> HPQ Marc Gerstein GE? Too Pedestrian for Me http://seekingalpha.com/article/138606-ge-too-pedestrian-for-me?source=feed 138606 It’s long been easy to tell favorable stories about General Electric (GE).

During the 1990s, this seemed to be everybody’s favorite stock given the cult of popularity surrounding former CEO Jack Welch. Successor Jeff Immelt has never garnered anything close to that degree of acclaim, but even he has some fans, as evidenced by the recently-released book Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way. (See also the accompanying Seeking Alpha article by author David Magee.)

]]> Wed, 20 May 2009 03:30:47 -0400 Marc Gerstein It’s long been easy to tell favorable stories about General Electric (GE).

During the 1990s, this seemed to be everybody’s favorite stock given the cult of popularity surrounding former CEO Jack Welch. Successor Jeff Immelt has never garnered anything close to that degree of acclaim, but even he has some fans, as evidenced by the recently-released book Jeff Immelt and the New GE Way. (See also the accompanying Seeking Alpha article by author David Magee.)


Complete Story »]]> GE Marc Gerstein Disagreeing with Rob Arnott: Past 40 Years Not Lost for Equity http://seekingalpha.com/article/136124-disagreeing-with-rob-arnott-past-40-years-not-lost-for-equity?source=feed 136124 In a study recently published in Journal of Indexes, Rob Arnott pretty much brushed stocks aside as having been useless over the past 40 years. He didn’t actually say “useless,” but it seems fair to take that message from his work. Consider the following pronouncement:

]]> Thu, 07 May 2009 10:46:50 -0400 Marc Gerstein In a study recently published in Journal of Indexes, Rob Arnott pretty much brushed stocks aside as having been useless over the past 40 years. He didn’t actually say “useless,” but it seems fair to take that message from his work. Consider the following pronouncement:


Complete Story »]]> DIA SPY QQQQ Marc Gerstein Banking: Will the New Be Better than the Old? http://seekingalpha.com/article/134217-banking-will-the-new-be-better-than-the-old?source=feed 134217 In a September 10, 2008 article, I presented a ranking system designed to identify more prudently-managed banks, and noted that for most years, it had not worked: Such stocks did not outperform those of the more aggressive institutions.

The model had, however, performed very well during the recent collapse, as risk-aversion became the new mantra.

]]> Thu, 30 Apr 2009 05:21:35 -0400 Marc Gerstein In a September 10, 2008 article, I presented a ranking system designed to identify more prudently-managed banks, and noted that for most years, it had not worked: Such stocks did not outperform those of the more aggressive institutions.

The model had, however, performed very well during the recent collapse, as risk-aversion became the new mantra.


Complete Story »]]> XLF KBE C BAC WFC PNC FHN CMA STI Marc Gerstein Rethinking How We Evaluate Fund Manager Performance http://seekingalpha.com/article/131923-rethinking-how-we-evaluate-fund-manager-performance?source=feed 131923 In a March 9, 2009 study, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French concluded that mutual fund managers, as a whole, stink (actually that’s my language, not theirs, but it does sum up their ultimate message). Although this particular study method had some new wrinkles, the grand conclusion is the same as what I’ve been hearing since I was a grad student in the late 1970s, and even back then, the topic was no longer new.

]]> Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:31:38 -0400 Marc Gerstein In a March 9, 2009 study, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French concluded that mutual fund managers, as a whole, stink (actually that’s my language, not theirs, but it does sum up their ultimate message). Although this particular study method had some new wrinkles, the grand conclusion is the same as what I’ve been hearing since I was a grad student in the late 1970s, and even back then, the topic was no longer new.


Complete Story »]]> DIA SPY QQQQ IWM Marc Gerstein Building a Do-It-Yourself ETF Hedge Fund http://seekingalpha.com/article/131713-building-a-do-it-yourself-etf-hedge-fund?source=feed 131713 Even now, despite the recent financial calamities, hedge funds continue to occupy a special and sometimes romanticized place in the hearts of many investors. A recent article explored how use of short and ultra-short ETFs, together with the Portfolio123.com ETF screener and backtester, can help us create what most would assume to be the purest kind of hedge fund portfolio, the kind that uses long-short strategies in an effort to make money regardless of market conditions. Actually, though, the workaday hedge fund world is much broader than that, containing so much strategic variety that we might view hedge funds, collectively at least, as funds that are able to invest in almost any thing almost any time, allowing the fund manager to pursue "alpha" anywhere it may be found. The approach presented here will follow this latter approach.

Hedge fund Replication

]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:06:21 -0400 Marc Gerstein Even now, despite the recent financial calamities, hedge funds continue to occupy a special and sometimes romanticized place in the hearts of many investors. A recent article explored how use of short and ultra-short ETFs, together with the Portfolio123.com ETF screener and backtester, can help us create what most would assume to be the purest kind of hedge fund portfolio, the kind that uses long-short strategies in an effort to make money regardless of market conditions. Actually, though, the workaday hedge fund world is much broader than that, containing so much strategic variety that we might view hedge funds, collectively at least, as funds that are able to invest in almost any thing almost any time, allowing the fund manager to pursue "alpha" anywhere it may be found. The approach presented here will follow this latter approach.

Hedge fund Replication


Complete Story »]]> AGG BIL BIV BND BSV EDV FXY GBF GVI IEF IEI ITE LAG MBB PLW SHV SHY TLH TLT UUP CSJ EIS EMV EWP FXM HAO IGV IJH IJR IJS IWN IYM IYT PIN RFG RZV TUR XLB XLY QAI Marc Gerstein The Importance of Hedging Against Bad Earnings http://seekingalpha.com/article/130023-the-importance-of-hedging-against-bad-earnings?source=feed 130023 GDP, General Motors (GM), AIG, Employment data, Home construction, etc. Commentators are never at a loss for coming up with a variety of explanations for what the market does. But to me, it looks like it still boils down to earnings. And right now, that's still a very iffy thing. So besides just guessing, perhaps it would help to use a simple, easy to implement, hedge.

Here's a quote from Yahoo! Finance article on April 7, 2009 that tries to explain the -2% (so far) drop in the major indexes:

]]> Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:03:27 -0400 Marc Gerstein GDP, General Motors (GM), AIG, Employment data, Home construction, etc. Commentators are never at a loss for coming up with a variety of explanations for what the market does. But to me, it looks like it still boils down to earnings. And right now, that's still a very iffy thing. So besides just guessing, perhaps it would help to use a simple, easy to implement, hedge.

Here's a quote from Yahoo! Finance article on April 7, 2009 that tries to explain the -2% (so far) drop in the major indexes:


Complete Story »]]> SPY Marc Gerstein