Thursday, May 1, 2025
I get to interact with hundreds to thousands of individual investors, and I have observed that many investors are not aware that shares of closed-end funds (CEFs) are not the same as common stock shares. CEFs are risky in a separate and distinct way from common stock risks. CEFs attract new investors because many of […]
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and business resulted in a stock market crash and severe business disruption for many companies. One impact of the economic slowdown/shut-in was that many companies were forced or chose to slash common stock dividends. For example, out of the 165 equity REITs tracked by Hoya Capital […]
It was just a handful of months ago that the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the U.S. population and economy. Most states put their populations into lockdown for much of April and May, which did slow the spread of the virus. Still, people can’t stay at home forever, and reopening of much of the economy […]
In March and April, the pandemic-triggered stock market crash hit the high-yield investment sectors, especially hard. Exchange-traded funds and notes (ETFs, ETNs) lost up to 90% of their value in a very short time. UBS to Redeem Two Leveraged Mortgage ETNs After 95% Plunge “Leveraged” is the word to note. Before the COVID crisis, there […]
The stock market crash at the start of the so-called “coronacrisis,” was especially devastating to share prices in high yield sectors. I attribute the extra steep declines to what I have labeled a “liquidity event,” in which leveraged funds using the high yield investments were forced to sell, sell, sell, to avoid becoming leveraged into […]
Outside of a personal residence, real estate is an asset class that often is underrepresented in investor portfolios. One reason is that it takes a lot of capital or taking on a lot of debt to buy an apartment building, office building, or a farm. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) offer a stock exchange-traded way […]
The 2020 second-quarter earnings season promises to be full of surprises – both positive and negative. Shareholders of stocks in index funds like SPY, DIA, and QQQ may be in for a rougher ride than they’d normally expect. With a large portion of the U.S. economy, including companies in SPY, DIA, and QQQ, shut down […]
The financial news focuses on the major stock market indexes. These are the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the S&P 500, and the NASDAQ Composite Index (NASDAQ). However, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on different sectors of the economy has these indexes painting an incomplete picture of what’s happening in the U.S. stock market. […]
If you are an income-focused investor, you likely feel that your investments have been left behind. The financial news covers the hot stocks such as Amazon and Tesla, which seem to set new record highs every day. Outside of the handful of top tech stocks, most investments have not recovered from the February and March […]
My investment and analysis services focus on dividend stocks, value stocks, and high-yield investments. However, I keep an eye on investment assets of all types, and when something unusual happens, I will dig into the facts to develop my understanding of what is happening. A few days ago, one news headline caught my attention. The […]
