Buybacks Take a Smarter Tack

Here's a Wall Street Journal article on the recent share buyback behavior of companies in the S&P 500 index. Apparently, companies did plenty of buying when the market was low then backing off as it rallied. Buybacks take a smarter tack The fact is companies do not always get this right. The article also points out that buybacks were at record levels as the market was peaking back in 2007. Yet, once stock prices fell dramatically, the buyback activity dropped off quite a bit.Substantial corrections can happen (and have happened) where...

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How US Economy Changed Since Last FOMC Mtg

Here’s a table comparing how the US economy has changed since the last FOMC meeting in March. More weakness than strength 4 sure…...

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Now NZ Economy Fared Since March Mtg

Aside from the Federal Reserve, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand also has a monetary policy announcement this afternoon. The RBNZ is expected to keep rates unchanged – hard to validate a rate hike when the RBA is planning to ease. Also, the last time the RBNZ met, Governor Bollard said “sustained strength in NZD would reduce the need for further increases in the cash rate.” – So it doesn’t look like rate hikes are in the pipeline until there is more...

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Read Quartery & Annual Reports

Now that March has passed, companies have finished reporting annual results for last year and are busy preparing to release Q1 results in the April-June time frame.  Its a good opportunity to catch up on reading the reports that are related to your investment holdings and potential investment candidates.  Reading quarterly & annual reports help investors to gain more information & accumulate knowledge. Other benefits include insights and details that are not usually mentioned in press releases.  Such information will help...

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