The threat of contagion in Europe deepened Tuesday, when Greece announced it would hold new elections in June after failing to form a coalition government.
If you're looking for a sign that the economy may be on the mend, look no further than the Treasury yield curve -- a closely monitored harbinger of the economy.
Borrowing costs rose in Spain Wednesday, with the 10-year yield crossing the 6% mark for the first time in two weeks amid rising concerns about the banking sector.
Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds are back below 2%. They really shouldn't be this low. Most fixed income investors agree that's the case. Yet, people keep clinging to long-term securities like Linus Van Pelt does to his baby blue security blanket.
It's getting tough to find a bargain these days and the stock market isn't cheap. But there's value to be found in the markets, if you tilt your game plan toward equities.
The International Monetary Fund said Friday that it has received commitments from several nations for more than $430 billion in additional funding to guard against global risks.
Guggenheim Partners chief investment officer Scott Minerd is a financial-history buff with a record of making dramatic predictions. In 2005 he warned clients of a looming cataclysm, and then was buying bonds again by October 2008. Those calls have helped the firm -- founded by the grandson of Solomon Guggenheim -- increase assets to $122 billion at the end of 2011, from $35 billion in 2007. Its fixed-income composite has returned an annualized 7.4% for the decade ended Dec. 31, ranking it in the top percentile of eVestment Alliance's U.S. core fixed income. Now Minerd, 53, says bonds are headed for a long-term bear market. He spoke with Fortune from his offices in Santa Monica about the economic outlook, where he's finding opportunities, and how his life has changed since a Guggenheim-led consortium reached a deal to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Just like rivals in a bad romantic comedy who shockingly realize they have feelings for each other, China and the United States have a complicated relationship.
Spanish bond yields soared on Monday to above 6%, their highest point since November, raising concerns that Europe's debt crisis may again be rearing its head after a period of relative calm.
It's one of those eternal truths. Just as you can be sure that daffodils and forsythia will blossom this time of year, you can be sure that mutual fund investors will collectively act like blooming idiots by doing the wrong thing with their money. Take the recently completed quarter, in which the Wilshire 5000 total U.S. stock market index was up a nifty 12.25%, its best Q1 since 1998. What were mutual fund investors doing? Selling U.S. stock funds, which were rising nicely and have a reasonable chance to climb over time, and loading up on bond funds, which are almost certain to decline over the long haul. Investors were net sellers of $15 billion of stock funds for the first three months of this year, according to the Investment Company Institute, and net purchasers of $77 billion of corporate bond funds.
1994 was great for movie fans. "Pulp Fiction." "The Shawshank Redemption." "Forrest Gump." But bond investors definitely would rather forget that year.
Four years into a 10-year wager that the S&P 500 index will return more than a selection of hedge funds, Warren Buffett has almost caught up with his competition.
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