Syria, the Market, and Crisis Investing
Recent events unfolding in Syria are a good example of how quickly news can change and ripple through markets. The Facts
How to Make Money at Neutral Volatility
Lately I have participated in several discussions about how to make money at “neutral vol,” or when Pinnacle portfolios are positioned to have roughly the same volatility as our benchmark portfolios. A good starting point for the conversation is to analyze the total equity positions we own in the portfolio versus the neutral allocation to…
Thinking About the Dollar (Again)
Rates are hopping, markets are churning, and investment positions are coming under challenge. Today we’ll have an investment meeting that challenges one of the bigger themes that we have in our portfolio: investing a strong dollar bias.
A Turning Point in the Market?
Inflection Point: (N) – Mathematics – A point on a curve at which the curvature changes from convex to concave or vice versa. In describing our current thinking, I have to resort to an investment writing cliché where the financial markets are described as being “at an inflection point.” While the mathematical definition for an inflection point…
The Quantitative Picture Gets Brighter
Back in June our proprietary quantitative model gave us a warning signal by dipping below the neutral bracket into what we consider mildly bearish territory (see the red line in the chart). The fact that the external models we follow were also behaving similarly had us somewhat concerned. However, that turned out to be a…
A Market Technician Looks at European Financials
If you could return to May 2012, would you invest your money in Europe or the United States? It may come as a surprise, but Europe is actually outpacing the S&P 500 with returns of 40% and 33% respectively. Headlines continue to beat the negative drum that ‘problems still loom in Europe;’ that may be…
The Problem with Monthly Returns
I recently wrote about three “red flags” that I look for when evaluating portfolio manager returns. The third item – a firm dropping a specific time frame from its performance reports – is particularly relevant, because we’ve decided to make our own change to the time horizon for our performance numbers. Beginning next month, Pinnacle…
How to Find a Good Investment Advisor
In these uncertain economic times, how do you find the right investment advisor for you? Ken Solow, a founding partner and Chief Investment Officer of Pinnacle Advisory Group, offers five excellent questions to ask your money manager to help you evaluate his or her investment skill, experience, and philosophy.
Emerging Markets Are Leading the Way Down
Markets are continuing to react and adjust, mostly in a negative manner, to the Federal Reserve’s announcement about their intention to wind down their quantitative easing program later this year. Volatility, as it is known to do, popped back up in fairly short order after a steady decline through the first five months of the…
Why We’re Changing Our Performance Benchmarks
As a longtime observer of portfolio manager performance, I have noticed a few common warning signs that there might be trouble brewing with a money manager. They are, in no real order of importance: 1. When there is a major change in the management team of a fund 2. When a specific time frame of…
