Archive of entries posted on March 2015

Why Defensive Stocks are Great to Hold for all Market Conditions

Posted by on

The performance of Cyclical stocks is directly related to the state of the economy.So if the economy is in contraction mode cyclicals do not perform well. But if the economy growing then they also grow. Cyclicals include the Industrial, Consumer Discretionary, Information Technology and Materials sectors. For example, during recessions restaurant companies will suffer as consumers …

Continue reading ‘Why Defensive Stocks are Great to Hold for all Market Conditions’ »

Can European Stocks Continue to Outperform their U.S. Peers?

Posted by on

In an article in December last year I wrote why U.S. investors may want to diversify by holding foreign stocks. Quoting from that piece: For example, though the U.S. stocks have done very well in 2013 and this year, there is no guarantee they will continue to outperform other markets in the future. No country has been …

Continue reading ‘Can European Stocks Continue to Outperform their U.S. Peers?’ »

Share of World GDP since 1980

Posted by on

The U.S. share of global economic output continues to decline. Last year it stood at just 22% of the world GDP while the share of emerging economies is growing. This is another reason for U.S. investors to diversify and include foreign stocks in their portfolios. Currently most U.S. investors have low allocations to international stocks due …

Continue reading ‘Share of World GDP since 1980’ »

Three Reasons Why European Dividend Stocks are Attractive Now

Posted by on

European equity indices have outperformed their American peers so far this year unlike last year when the S&P 500 was the winner. Compared to the S&P 500’s year-to-date return of -0.9% as of Mar 11th, the returns of major European indices are listed below: UK’s FTSE 100: 2.4 % France’s CAC 40: 17.0 % Germany’s DAX …

Continue reading ‘Three Reasons Why European Dividend Stocks are Attractive Now’ »