Archive of entries posted on December 2014

The British Stock Market Performs Best Under Conservative Prime Ministers

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The UK General election will take place in May next year. The contest will be mainly between the Conservatives and Labour. Though the radical U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) is growing in popularity among the general public it is highly unlikely to gain any significant number of votes.Ultimately either the Conservative or Labour party will win the elections as has …

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Knowledge is Power: Bull Market, China, Buybacks Edition

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Why This Bull Market Is…Bull (Canadian Investment Review) Falling oil price highlights end of commodities supercycle (Deutsche Bank Research) Energy Bargain Hunters Plow Record Amounts Into ETFs (Bloomberg) 5 investments to stay away from in 2015 and beyond (Financial Post) China tops the charts (MoneyWeek) Australia’s economy (OECD) Oil and Emerging Markets: A Double-Edged Sword (Mark Mobius, Franklin …

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S&P 500 Index Returns By Decade Since 1940

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Dividends account for a significant portion of the total returns of the S&P 500 over long periods. The table below shows the contribution of dividends to the total returns of the S&P 500 over the decades since 1940: Click to enlarge Source: A Brave New World, Dec 2014, The Absolute Return Letter, Absolute Return Partners It is …

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Do Reverse Stock Splits Work?

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Reverse stock splits rarely work. When a company is in serious trouble a silly reverse stock split will not change its fortune. Fundamental changes including new management, growth and other things have to occur in order for a reverse stock split to be successful. In most cases this does not happen. Rather the same incompetent managers …

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Why Did The Canadian Stock Market Underperform The U.S. Market

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I came across an interesting article titled  Stampede to the International Market by Edward Friedman, Senior Research Analyst at McLean&Partners of Canada. In the article Mr.Friedman discussed the importance of diversification for Canadian investors. The following post is based on that article. The S&P/TSX Composite Index has lagged the performance of the S&P 500 this year. While …

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