Beauty from the Beast
The Chinese proverb (or curse), "May you live in interesting times," seems particularly appropriate to describe the environment for equities thus far in 2008. The major market indexes are all down substantially and our value-oriented strategy has experienced some of its worst performance since 2002. Equity price declines accelerated in June and July as rising fears about the health of the banking system and fallout from the housing bust continued to provide plenty of negative fodder for the headline writers. Of course, as history tells us, interesting times can create interesting investment opportunities.
John Buckingham
A Picture or Two and 1,000 Words (Give or Take)
In this Buckingham Report we will update and consolidate a theme we have touched upon in recent reports: despite all the bombardment of current negative news and increased levels of uncertainty, patient investors can take heart that equities historically have been a soundly profitable place to be.
Giant Reasons for Long-Term Optimism
Although those who make their living forecasting such things now think there is a 49% chance the U.S. economy will fall into a recession, according to the most recent Wall Street Journal survey, the equity markets are certainly behaving as if the big 'R' word is already here.