Investing in the stock market makes sense, part 2

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 6, 2009 in Best of the Blog, Blog | 0 comments Part 2 in a series. So the first reason why investing in the stock market makes sense is that businesses, in the aggregate, ought to keep pace with the growth in Gross Domestic Product. There are many ways as an investor to capture the growth in wealth generated by businesses; for example: stocks, preferred stocks, bonds, warrants and options. But let’s just talk about bonds and stocks....
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Investing in the stock market makes sense, part 1

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 5, 2009 in Best of the Blog, Blog | 0 comments I want to talk to everyone about a general theory of why investing in the stock market makes sense. The usual arguments are that stocks have outperformed every asset class since the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. But that’s not a logical reason. That is simply evidence of the underlying logic of why stocks usually make sense. The Bedrock Economy-wide economic growth is measured by...
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Cisco kid is a friend of mine

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 5, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments After the financial markets closed on Wednesday Cisco reported its fiscal fourth quarter results. While revenues and profits were down, the results were better than expected. What’s more, their CEO, John Chambers said there were signs in the quarter that the economy had reached a tipping point. Trading in Cisco after hours was brisk and up. Because Cisco is a tech bellwether I would expect...
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Cash for Clunkers Is A Massive Success

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Aug 3, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments One of the signs we have been waiting for as a sign of improvement in gross domestic product (GDP), a turn around in car sales, is happening. You may have heard yesterday that Ford disclosed that its sales for July were up compared to last year’s sales. This is the first time in almost two years that any of the major car manufacturers has had an up sales month. The other major car...
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2nd quarter GDP

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jul 31, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments Hello everyone, So 2nd quarter GDP figures came out today and were better than expected. GDP declined 1% vs. an expected 1.5% decline. This result is not to surprising, really. For much of the 2nd quarter consumers were upbeat and that usually translates into upticks in spending. Importantly, this is the first pass at GDP. The bean counters constantly revise the figures even many years later. In...
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The next milestones

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jul 28, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments OK, so the heart of the 2nd quarter earnings season is past us now. The truly important companies, in terms of gauging a recovery, have reported: technology, banking and autos. The results were better than economists and analysts had expected. The stock market has rallied and is actually now up for 2009. So what’s next? We should be looking for: Increases in consumer confidence and...
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Home prices rise for first time since ’06

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Jul 28, 2009 in Blog | 0 comments Home prices from April to May rose 0.5% according to the Case-Shiller Index. This index tracks home prices in 20 markets considered to give a good cross-section of home prices. While not an amazing increase, it was the first time since July 2006 that the prices increased. Needless to say this is a good sign. It means that supply and demand are finally equilibrating in the housing market....
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