May 28th 2011
Municipal bonds trade in a very illiquid market. Bond owners are at the mercy of their brokerage firms in terms of getting muni price quotes. Now, you have an easy way of getting quotes, or at least recent sales.
FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, has a Quick Bond Search. Just click on the Municipal button, enter the CUSIP number in the symbol box, and click the Search button.
May 10th 2011
Jim Rogers, probably the individual investor’s best friend and a deep contrarian value investor, continues to like agriculture and dislikes Treasury bonds. He also favors gold and oil.
Rogers has made his views widely known in the popular press lately, including on Bloomberg news and CNBC.com
The investor extraordinaire, commodity bull and author thinks Treasury bonds rank as one of the worst investments going forward and believes yields must rise amid bulging deficits and a serious lack of resolve in Congress or the White House to meaningfully cut spending ahead of an election year in 2012. Rogers is targeting the long bond as his optimal short.
Treasury bonds have earned great returns since bottoming in 1981 following former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker’s successful attack on surging inflation in the 1970s (see chart above). Bonds have delivered super risk-adjusted returns compared to common stocks over the past thirty years and remain a cornerstone in most individual and institutional portfolios. But
May 6th 2011
Above is a daily chart of the bonds (TLT) and as you can see this market has been going sideways for several months establishing what is known as an inverted head and shoulders bottom. We are currently trading at the neckline (resistance) which comes in around the 95.00 level. A close above this level might set the stage for a rally. One other thing to keep in mind is that the bonds tend to rally around this time of year so you may want to keep this market on your watchlist for a potential buy.
June 30th 2010
Montreal, Canada
Since the emergence of the credit crisis almost three years ago (August 2007), I’ve been glued to global credit barometers. Bonds provide far greater clues to the future direction of the primary market trend than common stocks and basically dictate the direction of the latter, as we soberly discovered starting in late 2007 and throughout a dreadful 2008.
Admittedly, like many investors who predicted lower bond prices this year amid an avalanche of Treasury supply and rising long-term interest rates due to a strengthening economy, I was caught wrong-footed. Instead, bonds have rallied sharply – beating stocks for the first time since 2008. Unlike previous economic recoveries following a financial crisis, this one has thus far been lethargic and unimpressive. The market has had enough of waiting and pulled the plug on equities again on Tuesday.
My U.S. managed accounts continue to hold a big position in high quality bonds – mostly intermediate and long-term U.S. Tre