iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)

All Comments on IWM

  • commenter
    HarMegiddo
    Jan 31 10:29 AM
    Thursday Outlook: Ignore the Talking Heads [view article]
    what a shame, you missed CNBC coming out at 3:15pm with big breaking news about bill ackman's words on the bond insurers and the the downgrading of fitch.
    not to mention, 5 minutes before that, gasparino said there was going to be an imminent downgrading of mbia or ambac.
    OR the 3:45pm rant by crammer saying the market is going to "ramp" into the close and you should be buying.     Reply
  • commenter
    granger
    Jan 31 04:22 AM
    Fundamentally Weighted ETFs: Mixed Performance in '07 [view article]
    Yeah, goos stuff. I am a staunch Wisdomtree supporter and ETF owner. I experienced the brunt of the underperformance. For now, I am giving the beenfit of the doubt to the strategy. There needs to be a much larger sample than one year. The backtesting of the funds shows a much different story.

    That being said, last years underperfomance was very diappointing to me. I walked through my doubt and fear and actually accumulated more.

    I am a holder of DHS, EZY, DPN, DND, DGS and the WSDT tree stock itself. My positions are long term, I am a buy and hold investor.     Reply
  • commenter
    Brian Croner
    Jan 23 11:34 AM
    My Website
    Futures Off a Tad... [view article]
    My statement that I wrote yesterday is consistent with the futures readings in the charts here today. What if I'm that right just off the top of my head? That would be cool. Reply
  • commenter
    jr7107
    Jan 21 11:05 PM
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    Mr Market is always right. And tomorrow, rational or irrational he will be right again. Maybe there will be panic tomorrow, with Europe and Asia torching Monday/early Tuesday. Reply
  • commenter
    Michael B.
    Krause
    Jan 20 12:11 PM
    My Website
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    Nice call on the F# minor. Finally someone gets it.

    Here is a response I made on my blog to Reinko:

    But whats happening here is a transfer of wealth from mismanaged corporate balance sheets and investors (holders of subprime bonds) to borrowers (many of whom will file bankruptcy). Running up consumer debt, the borrow still gets to enjoy the benefits of the purchasing power he was given, at the expense of the foolish lender.

    The fed & US govt knows this, and knows the only solution is to devalue the dollar and inflate future earnings quantities to prevent an excessive slowdown and bankruptcy level. This excessive level of debt (ie 30T) however needs to be compared to cash and equity reserves (401Ks, pensions, cash savings, money markets, total home equity base properly discounted to correction in correspondence with total money supply and inflation, etc.) to have a fair evaluation. If the money supply doubled the past 10 years, then its less meaningful a number. The ratio of debt to money supply is more important.

    The fed knows all this and will continue its current policy at the expense of the dollar. This is a weakness of all fiat currencies though, and since this is true, a global economic contraction on the same scale in Europe will hurt the euro just as much. It'll become a question of who hurts more.

    Arguing that we're screwed because total debts have doubled in 10 years sounds wonderful to the bear, but it does not present a true picture when considering cash reserves and total money supply has increased as well.

    So further conclusions: the dollar will ultimately suffer at the expense of the S&P and housing boom. That is, unless other country recessions follow (which is likely, considering the housing price boom is not something unique to the US).

    And if any of you are truly this bearish on equities, I recommend you have a look at this

    scriabinop23.blogspot....

    and this:

    scriabinop23.blogspot....

    Reply
  • commenter
    NoFate
    Jan 20 03:50 AM
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    There is going to be $2-3 trillion in housing value that will go *poof!* in the next few years. Peoples LTV will be underwater and many will walk away? Do you have a clue what this will do to mortgage backed securities and bank margins?

    Do you realize that an increase of >0.5% unemployment from the low has signaled a recession with 100% accuracy since WWII? The last report came in at 0.6%.

    These are 2 of many indications that things are going to get rough. The signals are all around you, but you have to be willing to look and listen.

    What will you do when you realize the analysts telling you recession is on the way are actually the smart guys in the room? How do you plan to get your principle back?     Reply
  • commenter
    Reinko
    Jan 19 05:49 PM
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    I agree most with D36, there can be said a lot more on this detail.

    For the source of my calculations go to the Federal Reserve flow of funds sheet where some debt is collected, here is the link:

    www.federalreserve.gov...

    During the last seven years the debt on the financial sector grew something like 82%, the gross domestic product did not grow that fast. (Just compare Q1 2001 with Q3 2007)

    The same goes for mortgages, according to the flow of funds release we have 111% increase.

    And what about total domestic non financial sectors?
    In Q1 2001 we have 18334.7 billion US$ debt while
    In Q3 2007 we have 30640.9 billion US$ debt.

    That is over 12 thousand billion more debt!

    And the totals are staggering: When you add the debt of the flow of funds sheet together with the Federal emergency spending (not included at that FED sheet) we are over 50 trillion of debt.

    That is over 50 thousand billions!

    And at an interest level of just 5% there is a need every year for 2500 billion just to pay the interest!

    In conditions like this it just makes no sense to compare the present S&P with the 1999 or 2000 S&P.


    Reply
  • commenter
    Kunst
    Jan 19 10:57 AM
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    "If we hit the 1220 target and achieve a repeat of 2007 earnings for year 2008..." Stop right there, my friend. Only in your dreams are 2008 earnings going to ANYWHERE CLOSE to 2007. Reply
  • commenter
    David Fry
    Jan 19 10:35 AM
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    The last thing Mr. Market is is irrational. Now as to investors that's a different story.

    Let's put it this way Global View; the bullish bias is alive and well on the street. Those predicting recession, etc are a distinct minority since most analysts work for food as in "conflicted"...     Reply
  • commenter
    globalview99
    Jan 19 07:26 AM
    My Website
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    As usual, Mr Market is irrational (read overdone), and the more irrational the more myopic the street gets. This too shall pass and as the fog lifts, the market will slowly climb out of this morass and I'ld like to see all those analysts eat their recessionary and bear market hats. Its crisis like this in which fortunes are made and lost. Reply
  • commenter
    ericinNE
    Jan 19 02:53 AM
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    Now throw into the mix the very real possibility of just one of bond insurers going belly up behind the subprime paper. And if the fertilizer hits the ventilator before the gov't figures out that buying these guys up and covering that action @ $.50-.60 on the dollar is way cheaper than letting it happen, even just once, we could see a market slide that wipes out two generations worth of market increases. Reply
  • commenter
    D36
    Jan 18 10:06 PM
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    No offense, but I don't feel that you understand the depth of the problem. Millions of Americans purchased or refinanced property in the past few years and property values have and are declining significantly for a multitude of reasons. If a middle class family purchased a house for $400k and it declines in value 10% (which is on the low end of the spectrum), the family loses $40k on the spot if it decides to sell (which is a whole other problem). Being that a lot of consumption in recent years has been financed with easy debt and that easy debt is disappearing, the recession is not going to be shallow or brief. Banks/others who are holding these mortgages are going to and have lost a lot of money, they are going to lay people off who will then have trouble finding comparable jobs for a while. This isn't even the half of it, but all in all consumption is going to take a major hit and that is going to compound the layoff problem.

    We aren't heading for a little bump in the road. Stagflation is coming and this recession is going to be anything but minor.     Reply
  • commenter
    jr7107
    Jan 18 09:54 PM
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    Great analysis David, I do also think a rally of some sort is inevitable. But still not enough panic. Reply
  • commenter
    goatfarmer
    Jan 18 09:47 PM
    My Website
    Don't Buy (Sell) The Bear [view article]
    True, earnings have doubled since 2001. But more interesting, earnings are almost double those of 1999 when the index was at a comparable level to 2007. As to whether that 100% will repeat again in the next so many years, that's quite an assumption.

    Interesting to see a combination of technicals and valuations.

    as to the f sharp minor, this reader would prefer to see the bear march to the tune of op.53.
    Reply
  • commenter
    jr7107
    Jan 18 09:19 PM
    Friday's Outlook: Stick a Fork in Mr. Market [view article]
    There were tons of pundits saying surprise rate cut. Not much of a surprise if you ask me. 1280? 1250? Not enough panic yet, and the shorts are carrying the ball here with lots of powder. Reply
Loading...
Symbols:
Authors:
Quick Links: