SPDR Homebuilders (XHB)

All Comments on XHB

  • commenter
    oceandude
    Jan 02 12:39 PM
    13 Predictions for 2008 [view article]
    Virginia Tech marketing professor, the "internet types" that don't vote make a conscious decision not to vote because the choices are usually the lesser of two evils (I'd argue they should vote 3rd party, but anyway that's the reality). In other words they are disillusioned.

    I can't count how many stories I've seen on the Internet of people that plan to vote for the first time specifically for Ron Paul. Many tales are out there of "selling your soul", i.e. registering Republican, just to vote for Dr. Paul.

    The simple truth is that very few politicians understand economics. To them it is purely about taxes. Ironic that no Democrats understand inflation, since inflation is essentially a targeted tax on the poor.

    The milk-for-$6 prediction is exactly right. I'm sure the 2008 candidates will be making a big deal out of the cost of milk and bread as the election draws nearer. They'll probably think that Congress can do something about it. Maybe they'll start sending out more food stamps. Yeah right. The only thing Congress can do is to start overseeing the Fed -- a job they've ignored for 90 years.     Reply
  • commenter
    cheesecake
    Jan 02 11:53 AM
    My Website
    13 Predictions for 2008 [view article]
    colts beating the patriots....geez what were you smoking ;) Reply
  • commenter
    TraderMark
    Jan 02 11:39 AM
    My Website
    13 Predictions for 2008 [view article]
    If Washington remains gridlocked and unable to do anything, I think within 3-4 election cycles an independent might emerge. But the system is so stacked against a 3rd party candidate it will take a serious economic upheaval in this country. My personal anecdotal review is the 10% extreme right and 10% extreme left have the most passion and thus control the system. They are happy to fight with each other and instead of getting anything done - they are happy to just fight. THe other 80% of us are in the middle and sick of it all. Hence a "centrist" candidate would be the independent. Unfortunately being centrist doesn't incinte the same passion as being extreme liberal or conservative but if the country continues down the path the next 10 years and living standards continue to slowly erode under global wage equalization, and inflation this too shall pass. We have a lot of major issues that never get taken care of because people are too busy fighting. It is 3rd grade human behavior and quite frankly I think most Americans are just sick of it and have checked out of the system. Hence the rise of Ron Paul. People are stick of picking the lesser of 2 evils. Again, might take some iterations, and another decade or so, but if things don't change it seems more possible by the year despite all the roadblocks put up by the 2 entrenches powers. Reply
  • commenter
    vt
    marketing
    professor
    Jan 02 11:29 AM
    13 Predictions for 2008 [view article]
    No doubt that our political system needs an overhaul, but an "independent"... will never win the white house in our life time. Surprisingly, most of the young internet types don't even vote. Reply
  • commenter
    Malkiel
    Jan 02 11:20 AM
    What's Next for Housing? [view article]
    You're falling behind man, Iran is off the table as a geopolitical problem. It's not clear to me anyway why geopolitical problems would affect the domestic housing market, but if home sales crater during this Spring season that will make our economy a geopolitical problem... Reply
  • commenter
    Malkiel
    Jan 02 11:12 AM
    13 Predictions for 2008 [view article]
    I agree that an independent run for the presidency is highly likely this election, but I don't see any scenario where the result will be anything other than taking 2 Republican votes for every 1 Democratic vote and guaranteeing the White House to the Democrat... Reply
  • commenter
    Barbara Ann
    Jackson
    Jan 01 01:16 PM
    Is it Time to Start Looking for a Bottom in the Housing Market? [view article]
    re: Debt Collection Abuse, FORECLOSURE FRAUD, Collusion

    Most critical to the Foreclosure Crisis is FORECLOSURE FRAUD. FORECLOSURE FRAUD enables MORTGAGE LENDERS to ILLEGALLY FLIP properties. It is HIGHLY COMMON for a DEBT COLLECTOR attorney to file a foreclosure naming a DEFUNCT mortgage company, or naming a mortgage company which is NO LONGER holder of the promissory note; or file a foreclosure affixing a "ransom" amount (the collector's fee) far exceeding the "Acceleration Clause." In States such as Louisiana, 2 particular mortgage companies which benefit from fraudulent foreclosures are Wells Fargo and FREDDIE MAC.

    Any representation about $$$ billion dollar losses due to people defaulting on mortgages should be weighed against the fact that some mortgage giants needlessly pay DEBT COLLECTION firms outrageous legal fees for corporate lawyers to outmaneuver -and even persecute people who file court proceedings in opposition to fraudulent foreclosures. Despite a property owner’s entitlement to Challenge CONTRARY-TO-LAW loss of his / her home, most property owners LACK consumer and legal knowledge; the Court System is REFRACTORY; and there are limited attorneys with acumen to pursue Consumer Law. Also, when borrowers sue for “Unfair Debt Collection Practices,” damages, the collector gets to make more $$ through prolonged litigation, as co-conspirators enjoy the foreclosure pie. In fact, some collectors even file in Bankruptcy Court falsified “Motion To Lift Stay” pleadings for purposes of accomplishing SIMULATED AUCTION. Irrefutable proof of these things is posted on lawgrace.org. *In fact, some collectors even file in Bankruptcy Court a false “Motion To Lift Stay” pleading for the purpose of accomplishing a SIMULATED real estate auction.

    Also, Securities Investors need to become more astute about how mortgage servicers' misdeeds hurts borrowers as well as siphons incalculable amounts of money from what Investors should reap. (See "Limiting Abuse and Opportunism By Mortgage Servicers," AND "Private Property Rights Deferred: Has Predatory Mortgage Servicing Destroyed The American Dream" by Rawle Andrews, Jr., Esq.,and Leroy Jones, Jr., J.D. Visit: www.msfraud.org/index.....)

    Here’s a few more links:

    Mortgage Mess, Foreclosure Fraud and Impediments to Justice newsblaze.com/story/20....

    ILLEGAL REAL ESTATE FLIPPING...
    www.lawgrace.org/2007/.../

    Comment on the Foreclosure of Judge Reginald Badeaux’s Home
    www.lawgrace.org/2007/.../

    Barbara Ann Jackson
    lawgrace.org     Reply
  • commenter
    Fred S
    Dec 29 12:00 PM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    The line is supposed to slope that way (greater risk - greater return), so I'm not surprised larger amounts of data would support it. These small data sets allow one to get whatever result is desired, which is very nice if you want to "prove" something. :-) Thanks for the clarification on larger data sets, and Happy New Year. Reply
  • commenter
    NO DooDahs
    Dec 28 04:05 PM
    My Website
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    Interesting. I've never looked at Sharpe or Sortinos on sub-annual timeframes by taking annual return data for year-ending on each point. Is this an industry norm of some sort, or are you innovating here?

    When I've looked at ratios on shorter timeframes, I've taken the returns and standard deviations on that timeframe (daily, weekly, monthly, whatever) and calculated the ratios on that data. Of course, when doing it that way, it doesn't translate to an annualized ratio and one has to be consistent in making sure that statistics are only compared to the proper timeframes.

    Speaking of translating, what is the correlation between daily year-ending return data Sharpes and non-overlapping year-period Sharpes? It would be interesting to see if what you've done translates to the larger scale.

    Perhaps when you're bored over the holidays, you could some of the longer-running sector ETFs with 7-year Sharpes done both ways:

    * 7 data points of non-overlapping years

    * 7 x 252 data points of year-ending daily returns

    ... and see if they're consistent with each other. Purely academic, because as discussed previously, I'm not a huge fan of the Sharpes, Sortinos, Alphas, Betas.
    Reply
  • commenter
    NO DooDahs
    Dec 28 03:04 PM
    My Website
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    When you say "annualized daily data" – what exactly do you mean? How many data points of return are evaluated for each ETF, and how many are used in the calculation of standard deviation?

    I am GUESSING that you have 250-ish data points, each one being a return for the year period ending on each trading day of 2007, with the 3% RF being used for each point. Is that correct?

    Persistence of the relationships is indeed the key.

    Is your larger dataset also composed of industry (or other) ETFs? I would be curious about the relationship between return and volatility for the universe of exchange-traded stocks, but that would just be academic and not functional curiousity.
    Reply
  • commenter
    jgpietsch
    Dec 28 02:08 PM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    Hi Fred, you comment on the slope of the data set is correct! However, I have performed the same analysis on a larger data set and found the same thing. So the shown regression result is indeed rubbish per se, but the point of the finding will hold to further scrutiny. Happy New Year, Gang! Reply
  • commenter
    Fred S
    Dec 28 01:04 PM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    The slope is meaningless for this small data set because the single XLM outlier exerts so much leverage. Drop that one point and the line has the opposite slope.

    For this data the regression line is misleading noise that should either be omitted, or calculated with a more robust means that isn't subject to outlier distortions.     Reply
  • commenter
    Fred S
    Dec 28 01:04 PM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    The slope is meaningless for this small data set because the single XLM outlier exerts so much leverage. Drop that one point and the line has the opposite slope.

    For this data the regression line is misleading noise that should either be omitted, or calculated with a more robust means that isn't subject to outlier distortions.     Reply
  • commenter
    JFD
    Dec 28 10:29 AM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    Excellent analysis. Id be curious about how the international ETF's would look under the same analysis. Reply
  • commenter
    JFD
    Dec 28 10:26 AM
    Sharpe Ratios on 2007 ETF Returns [view article]
    Excellent analysis. What would the international ETF's look like? Reply
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