Archive for July, 2007

Monthly Archive
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

The value of a drink …

This is not a financial story, but there is at least anecdotal evidence of a strong link between nervous stock markets and the excessive consumption of alcohol. I thought I would share this with you to provide some light relief in the otherwise serious world of finance.
“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the wine […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Humor by Prieur du Plessis
Sunday, July 29th, 2007

Dow’s 520 point two-day loss: correction or calamity?

“Down, down, deeper and down”. So goes the chorus of a Status Quo song, but it is eerily starting to sound like the stock market’s anthem.
When writing an article on Thursday’s 312 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Index I did not quite contemplate market circumstances requiring a sequel so soon thereafter. But alas, Thursday’s […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Markets, Money, Stocks, Investment, Finance, Economy, Equities, Business by Prieur du Plessis
Friday, July 27th, 2007

How serious is a 312 point market decline?

On the face of it yesterday’s drop of 312 points (-2.3%) in the Dow Jones Industrial Index is scary stuff. The chart below tells the sorry tale.

But just how serious is this decline from a historical perspective?
Since the start of the Dow in 1896 we have seen a drop of more than 312 points on 15 occasions. […]

7 Comments » - Posted in Markets, Money, Stocks, Investment, Finance, Economy, Equities, Business by Prieur du Plessis
Wednesday, July 25th, 2007

Gold: rays of glitter in a murky environment

Just when everybody thought gold bullion was down and out and embarking on a downward spiral, the shine returned. Even erstwhile gold bug Richard Russell started favoring the Dow stocks over the yellow metal, but more about that later.
Since my last, somewhat upbeat, article on gold bullion and gold stocks about five weeks ago they have […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Markets, Money, Stocks, Investment, Gold, Economy, Equities, Finance, Commodities by Prieur du Plessis
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007

Slovenia: the best-kept secret of Central Europe

This article is quite different from my normal stories as it deals with a country rather than with a specific financial market or asset class. But please allow me the freedom to share this information with you as Slovenia is such a delightful country and also presents some unique investment opportunities for the international entrepreneur. Enjoy the read.  
“… another […]

7 Comments » - Posted in Travel, Slovenia, Investment, International real estate, Central Europe by Prieur du Plessis
Thursday, July 12th, 2007

US equities: what is risk premium telling us?

It is often stated that investors have become increasingly less risk averse over the past few years. This is true for many asset classes as evidenced by narrowing credit spreads and a number of sentiment indicators.
However, this is not necessarily the case with US equities, especially not when considering the valuation of equities relative […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Markets, Money, Stocks, Investment lessons, Investment, Economy, Equities, Finance, Bonds by Prieur du Plessis
Monday, July 9th, 2007

Shift happens - a potpourri of amazing stats

The video clip below is a cocktail of mind-boggling statistics. As John Mauldin remarked: “I think that we underestimate the accelerating pace of change we are going to see in the next 15 to 20 years. We will see more change in the coming decade than we saw all of last century. Think back just 20 years […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Markets, Money, Investment lessons, Investment, Finance, Economy by Prieur du Plessis
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007

Global stock market performance round-up (June 30, 2007)

Can money trees in fact grow to heaven? It is certainly beginning to look that way when considering global stock market returns.
World stock markets again delivered good returns in US dollar for the quarter ended 30 June 2007. The best performance came from the Peru Composite Index with an eye-popping capital appreciation of 31.8%, […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Money, Stocks, Markets, Investment, Finance, Equities by Prieur du Plessis
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

Valuation of US equities - back to basics

The most nagging question for investors in equities is what return they can expect from their investment. For most people it’s as simple as that, unless of course you want to bring risk and some other Greek (quant) variables into the equation.
It is stating the obvious that an investor’s total return is made up […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Money, Stocks, Markets, Investment lessons, Finance, Investment, Equities by Prieur du Plessis