Of Special Interest ...examining a significantly timely topic

Lots of pundits calling for a double dip recession. In this month’s “Inside The Stock Market” Doug Ramsey questions their rationale and uses history as a guide to say that we don’t think so.

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This month’s “Of Special Interest” section looks at six trends from the Supply/Demand front. Key to several of these trends is that investors chase performance: still seeing big inflows into bond funds, with big outflows from retail money market funds.

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Jim Floyd examines the revenue growth of the ten broad sectors in this month’s “Of Special Interest”.

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Expectations for broad leadership from inflation-beneficiary sectors of Materials and Energy tell us that investor obsession seems to have shifted too rapidly from deflation to “reflation”.

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Superior performance of foreign stocks of late is likely only the preamble to what the rest of the cyclical bull market will look like.

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Several independent methods are presented that seem to triangulate on the years 2012 and 2013 as candidates for another significant stock market low  - - maybe the final low of a secular bear market which began in 2000?

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REITs were at one time a market darling, and for the first three quarters of 2008 they were holding up much better than the stock market.

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Eric Bjorgen searches for something beyond The Great Depression or 1990’s Japan. See what he found in this month’s Of Special Interest.

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This month’s Of Special Interest focuses on the dismal outlook for earnings. But there is hope, as they should be approaching trough levels soon. After all, with easier comps on the horizon, things can’t get much worse, can they?

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Once again, this month’s “Of Special Interest” examines deflation but employs a longer time horizon. We also contrast the deflationary environment in Japan versus current U.S. conditions.

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Mild deflation is nothing to fear: An environment of 0% to 2.4% deflation has proven to be one of the more conducive environments for stocks.

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Small Cap leadership trend maybe re-emerging. Doug Ramsey examines Small Cap performance coming out of bear markets. Historically, they have been able to do well as higher beta plays.

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High Yield bonds have reached our attractive zone at yields of nearly 14%. To us, a gradual accumulation program makes sense.

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Presidential election-year performance vs. non-Presidential election-year performance…. Searching for an intersection that doesn’t exist!

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Today’s takeovers appear to make better strategic sense, and are coming at the hands of companies with good credit ratings, strong balance sheets, and good cash positions. This month’s “Of Special Interest” looks at the possibility that a rebound in M&A activity could heal an ailing stock market.

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In this month’s “Of Special Interest”, Eric Bjorgen analyzes the Coincident Economic Indicators, which the NBER uses to date the beginning and ending points of recessions. Three of the four measures are indicating a recession has already begun.

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These once elite companies have continued to turn in good earnings growth. The problem had been that the prices had moved far too high. After a few years of declining prices, the valuations are once again looking very compelling.

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Is it time to buy Technology? This month's “Of Special Interest” examines the sector's merits and finds that while there are signs of improvement, it is too soon to make a big move here.

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Are we asking the wrong question about Consumer Stocks versus Staples? This month’s “Of Special Interest” looks at the relationship between all Consumer groups (both Discretionary and Staples) compared to Commodity related groups.

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Conventional wisdom and modern day historical evidence indicate that Value stocks do better in bear markets. But from the 1920s through the 1970s, it was Growth that held up best during bear market declines.

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