Pacific Park Financial Inc.

China’s manufacturing sector is contracting, Brazil’s consumers are retrenching and India’s economy is growing at the slowest pace in a decade. Is it any wonder that commentators as...

U.S. stock investors have largely dismissed several market-moving forces from the previous decade. “Decoupling,” rising interest rates, the yen carry trade — many of the most...

Several days ago, one of my clients referred a friend to Pacific Park Financial, Inc. The elderly gentlemen came to my office with a familiar dilemma. Specifically, he struggled to see the value of...

A fellow money manager recently tweeted, “I’m praying for bad econ news so that the Fed will keep buying bonds. I don’t know what else to pray for.” I felt the writer’s...

In recent weeks, stock market volatility has been rising due to uncertainty surrounding whether or not the Federal Reserve would curb its money-printing-for-bond-buying program. Yet this week’s...

The possibility of the Federal Reserve slowing its bond purchasing program sent interest rates rocketing in May. Rate-sensitive assets — dividend stocks, REITs, MLPs, preferreds, muni bonds...

Permanently bullish commentators have dismissed the monstrous sell-off on the final day in May as a profit taking exercise. They maintain that rising bond yields as well as momentum in non-defensive...

There are moments when the media will grab hold of a terrific sound byte and refuse to let go. For example, some blame the recent weakness of yield-oriented assets — investment grade bonds, high...

Jason Geopfert of SentimenTrader.com recently explained that a three-month view of the S&P 500’s upside persistence (closing near a daily high) has reached an extreme seen in 4 other...

Long-time readers and listeners know that I am an active manager of passive “Index ETFs.” I favor exchange-traded index vehicles because the diversification comes with low expenses,...

During Alan Greenspan’s tenure at the helm of the Federal Reserve (1987-2006), the investment community created a phrase to capture the former chairman’s wordiness. “Fed Speak”...

In 1986, I visited the Philippine Stock Exchange. There were few, if any, computers on the floor. Black markers registered trading activity on a giant whiteboard. And the feeling that I came away with...

“I’ve never seen THIS in 34 years of investing,” quipped media personality Jim Cramer on Monday. What was Mr. Cramer referring to? For the most part, he expressed excitement over the...

Extraordinary rallies off bear market bottoms are typical. Bullish run-ups in March of 2003 as well as March of 2009 registered enviable unrealized gains of 35% and 65% respectively; each advance...

Sometimes, when the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve speaks, my diaphragm pushes on my lungs hard enough to inhibit breathing. It’s not that I don’t admire Ben Bernanke on a variety of...