Bespoke Investment Group has just conducted a roundtable on the outlook for the economy and financial markets by surveying opinions from individuals that run “the best financial blogs and websites”. As the writer of the Investment Postcards blog, I am honored to have been included on the list of 12 roundtable participants.

Each participant was asked to respond to the same 25 questions regarding their 2010 outlook as well as their take on 2009.

To start off the roundtable, Bespoke created a matrix highlighting prognostications for various asset classes in 2010. Not all participants took part in this section of the Q&A, but the ones that did are included in the matrix below. As shown, the majority view is that the S&P 500 will be up in 2010, bonds will be

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Bespoke Investment Group has just conducted a roundtable on the outlook for the economy and financial markets by surveying opinions from individuals that run “the best financial blogs and websites”. As the writer of the Investment Postcards blog, I am honored to have been included on the list of 12 roundtable participants.

Each participant was asked to respond to the same 25 questions regarding their 2010 outlook as well as their take on 2009.

To start off the roundtable, Bespoke created a matrix highlighting prognostications for various asset classes in 2010. Not all participants took part in this section of the Q&A, but the ones that did are included in the matrix below. As shown, the majority view is that the S&P 500 will be up in 2010, bonds will be

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Randall Forsyth (Barron’s): What I learned in 2009, December 23, 2009. Cheap valuations and high yields make for low risks, even during a panic. Now valuations are rich, yields have fallen and complacency has spread.

• John Crudele (New York Post): Move over, Ben, meet a real Man of the Year, December 24, 2009. Time Magazine has its Person of the Year. And, now, I have mine. Meet Trinie Jestine, who in 2009 accomplished what a lot of people couldn’t: He landed a job.

• NPR: Geithner voices confidence about economic rebound, December 22, 2009. Pointing to signs that the economy is growing and on the path to recovery, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says

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Three powerful investment trends will separate the winners from the losers in the new year. Global commodities prices will continue to move higher. Emerging economies will outgrow their richer, more-mature counterparts. And the countries that were stingy with their monetary and fiscal bailout plans will now reap the benefits; they will outpace the countries that slashed their interest rates to zero and allowed their deficits to soar. One country is poised to profit from all three of those trends. What's more, the political worries that always seem to diminish its allure to investors are poised to recede, making this emerging southern hemisphere heavyweight one of the premiere profit opportunities for 2010. I'm talking about Chile. ...

Gold prices surged to a record high $1226.10 an ounce on Dec. 3, but have since retreated. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar has been weak for many months, but shown signs of strength in the past week. So what's next for the dollar and the price of commodities like gold? In order to answer that question we must look at the factors that brought us here: loose monetary policy and government stimulus. Email this Print About the Author Syndicate // custom link per shareThis ...

Andy Mukherjee of Indian TV sits down with Marc Faber, author of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, discussing a wide spectrum of topics about the economy and financial markets. Do make a point of viewing these clips.

Part 1:

Part 2: Dian Chu, writer of the Economic Forecasts & Opinions blog, has kindly provided a summary of this part of the interview. Please click here.

Part 3:

Source: Indian TV via YouTube (here, here and here), December 19, 2009.

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The comments below come courtesy of John Murphy, technical analyst and author of a number of best-selling books on the topic.

A Friday stock bounce kept major stock indexes stuck in a two-month trading range. Prices also remain above their 50-day averages which keeps the intermediate uptrend intact. Prices, however, remain below long-term resistance barriers near 10,500 in the Dow, 1120 in the S&P 500, and 2200 in the Nasdaq Composite. Although not shown here, today’s unusually heavy trading is due to quarterly futures and options expiration as well as some index rebalancing. It has little forecasting value.

A modest pullback in the US dollar also provided some short-term relief to stocks and commodities. Gold and oil ETFS (GLD and USO) bounced off their 50- and 200-day moving averages respectively.

Stocks may also be benefiting from a favorable seasonal pattern. Not only is December a strong month

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The December edition of Donald Coxe’s Basic Points research report (subtitled “Financial Heroin”) has just been published. His investment recommendations, as summarized in this document, are listed in the paragraphs below, but I do recommend you also read the full report at the bottom of the post. (Also note that Donald’s weekly webcasts can be accessed from the sidebar of the Investment Postcards site.)

1. Remain underweighted in US equities - as a percentage of equities within global portfolios, and as a percentage of assets in US balanced portfolios. Underweight US bonds in global portfolios.

The long-term financial projections for the US are scary, even if one accepts the Obama assumptions: ten years of large deficits, no recessions, strong, sustained economic growth, and a mere 1% increase in Treasury yields. Those numbers make no allowance for the costs of health care, which will be huge. Debilitating tax increases

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This week Consuelo Mack is joined on WealthTrack by two investment champions from independent research firm, ISI Group. Ed Hyman, Wall Street’s number one ranked economist for an unprecedented thirty years running, and top ranked portfolio strategist, Francois Trahan, share their 2010 forecasts.

ISI believes the economy is going to surprise on the upside next year. Hyman tells us why, where and how much. Trahan hit the bull’s-eye with his forecasts of a very strong and enduring rally this year. He has much more modest expectations for 2010 and shares his predictions and strategy to make money regardless.

Note: The transcript of this interview is not available yet, but will be posted here as soon as it arrives.

Source: Wealthtrack, December 18, 2009.

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This week Consuelo Mack is joined on WealthTrack by two investment champions from independent research firm, ISI Group. Ed Hyman, Wall Street’s number one ranked economist for an unprecedented thirty years running, and top ranked portfolio strategist, Francois Trahan, share their 2010 forecasts.

ISI believes the economy is going to surprise on the upside next year. Hyman tells us why, where and how much. Trahan hit the bull’s-eye with his forecasts of a very strong and enduring rally this year. He has much more modest expectations for 2010 and shares his predictions and strategy to make money regardless.

Note: The transcript of this interview is not available yet, but will be posted here as soon as it arrives.

Source: Wealthtrack, December 18, 2009.

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