September 3rd, 2010 by admin

Fears of the US economy facing a double-dip recession were expressed after pending sales of previously owned US homes rebounded unexpectedly in July and new claims for jobless benefits fell last week.

The data released recently including sturdy sales from retailers in the US last month followed a report displaying a surprising gain in manufacturing and suggesting that the US economy has been able to retain some underlying strength.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

This is an economy that has hit a soft patch. It’s not an economy that appears to be heading towards a double-dip recession,” said Brian Levitt, an economist at OppenheimerFunds in New York.

Investors appeared to agree that fears of a double-dip recession might have been overdone as they sold U.S. government debt for a second straight day and bought stocks. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500 Index ended up 0.91 percent.

The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed, rose 5.2 percent in July from June. Analysts had expected the index, which leads actual sales by a month or two, to fall 1 percent.

Home sales have dropped sharply since a popular tax credit for home buyers ended in April and the surprise gain in pending sales raised hopes the sector could soon stabilize.

The minutes of the U.S. central bank’s last policy meeting showed that some policymakers believe that the outlook would have to deteriorate “appreciably” to spur fresh monetary support.

Tags: Home sales, recession, stocks, tax credit

June 18th, 2010 by admin

Increased disclosure in the marketing of the increasingly popular “target date” mutual funds is expected to be proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

S.E.C. Chairman Mary Schapiro, in an open meeting, said that proposed changes to advertising materials, naming, and risk disclosures are intended for reducing the possibility of investor confusion.

From Dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com:

Target date funds are those designed to automatically change their asset mix over time, according to a selected time frame — most often, an investor’s year of anticipated retirement.

Most of the funds are designed so that the mix of investments — such as stocks, bonds and cash — will get more conservative as the target date approaches, to shield investors from possible heavy losses just before retirement.

Commissioners said that because U.S. investors increasingly manage their retirement and investment portfolios themselves, alleviating misunderstanding and confusion over performance expectations for target date funds is a priority — especially after 2008’s performance.

The S.E.C. said funds with a 2010 target date lost an average of 24 percent, in a range of about 9-41 percent during 2008.

Tags: advertising materials, bonds, investment portfolios, marketing, mutual funds, risk disclosures, stocks