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): Reflation trade shifting into reverse? October 27, 2009. Risk assets ranging from stocks to commodities to currencies seem to be faltering after being floated on a sea of liquidity.

• Doug Kass (TheStreet.com):   My “fast money” recap, October 28, 2009. I saw some emerging technical signs of market weakness that could override seasonal strength, including three failed rallies in the past week, a contracting number of new highs on the New York Stock Exchange, a breakdown in the Dow Jones Transportation Average and, generally, stocks have begun to sell off on good and bad news. … asked how vulnerable the market was over the short to intermediate term if I used the quantitative models that

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Jeremy Siegel is professor of finance of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsyilvania. But he is perhaps best known for his 1994 book Stocks for the Long Run, in which he explained why he believes buying and holding stocks is the best approach to investing.

In Part 1 of an interview with John Authers, investment editor of the Financial Times, Siegel is asked whether he got it wrong against the backdrop of last year’s market crash.

Click here or on the image below to view the video.

In Part 2, Siegel explains why the ageing populations in developed countries mean investors need to put money into emerging markets, or risk losing out.

Click here or on the image below to view the video.

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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.

• Robert Fisk (Independent): Secret plan to ditch the US dollar’s dominance uncovered, October 6, 2009. Arab states have launched a secret plan with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading.

• Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (Telegraph): China calls time on dollar hegemony, October 6, 2009. You can date the end of dollar hegemony from China’s decision last month to sell its first batch of sovereign bonds in Chinese yuan to foreigners.

• John Hussman (Hussman Funds): Defensive, but a measure of equanimity, October 5, 2009. My view continues to be that the intrinsic condition of the US economy has not improved, and that the green shoots we’ve observed are a transient artifact

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This post provides links to a number of thought-provoking articles I have read over the past few days that you may also find of interest.

• Dan Holland (RealClearMarkets): An interview with Doug Kass, September 21, 2009. Hedge fund manager Doug Kass has been called many different names over the course of his storied and successful, nearly forty-year investing career. Names like the “Bear of Boca”; “The Peerless Prognosticator of Palm Beach”; as well as the “Anti-Cramer.” He’s earned them all. As a noted short seller unafraid to swim against the tide of consensus, he seems to relish his self-appointed role bucking Wall Street groupthink and profiting handsomely from betting against the crowd.

• Intelligent Investing Transcript (Forbes): Jean-Marie Eveillard, September 14, 2009. An interview by Steve Forbes of Jean-Marie Eveillard, is senior adviser of First Eagle Funds.

• Peter Boone and Simon

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For more than a decade, author and academic Dr. Jeremy Siegel had the Midas touch.  His book “Stocks For the Long Run,” first published in October 1996, surveyed more than 200 years of stock market history both in the United States and abroad and made a compelling case that common stocks are the very best long-term investment vehicle. Better than cash. Better than bonds. Better than real estate. Better than gold.

In the roaring bull market of the 90s - and since - his book was required reading. Millions of investors were strongly influenced by his research.

In the process, Siegel became a celebrity, appearing regularly on network and cable investment shows. He is also now an advisor to WisdomTree Investments, a sponsor of exchange-traded funds.

But while history once buttressed Siegel’s grand conclusions, current events haven’t been so kind…

More specifically, as of June 30, U.S. stocks have underperformed long-term Treasury bonds over

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Dr. Jeremy Siegel: Are Stocks Still The Best Long-Term Investment Vehicle?

by Alexander Green, Advisory Panelist

For more than a decade, author and academic Dr. Jeremy Siegel had the Midas touch.

His book “Stocks For the Long Run,” first published in October 1996, surveyed more than 200 years of stock market history both in the United States and abroad and made a compelling case that common stocks are the very best long-term investment vehicle. Better than cash. Better than bonds. Better than real estate. Better than gold.

In the roaring bull market of the 90s - and since - his book was required reading. Millions of investors were strongly influenced by his research.

In the process, Siegel became a celebrity, appearing regularly on network and cable investment shows. He is also now an advisor to WisdomTree Investments, a sponsor of exchange-traded funds.

But while history once buttressed Siegel’s grand conclusions, current

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I am experiencing Internet problems and have difficulty accessing my data sources. This week’s video compilation is therefore posted without the usual introductory paragraphs. But I’m sure the interesting clips will speak for themselves.

Wall St Cheat Sheet: AIG - writing stories about people who play “it” safe “Evidently, AIG is a company that plays ‘it’ safe (whatever the hell that means) and knows how to manage risk better than anyone else in the known universe. Don’t believe me? Take their word for it. We let corporations falsely advertise all the time, and here is a perfect example of the cost.”

Source: Damien Hoffman, Wall St Cheat Sheet, July 15, 2009.

Bloomberg: Shiller, Roubini discuss “anemic” economic recovery “Nouriel Roubini, professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and Robert Shiller, chief economist and co-founder

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The most fundamental tenet of investing is that risk and reward go hand in hand. The greater the potential reward, the greater the risk. The lower the risk, the lower the reward you can expect. This leads many investors to believe that the surest way to make big gains in the stock market is to take big risks (even if they don’t think what they are doing is risky). But it’s not true. In fact, the biggest gains in the stock market, by far, come from the safest stocks.

I will prove it to you. And I will also show you how to make 10-20 times your money in addition to 20% - 30% annual yields, while owning a portfolio that allows you to sleep soundly at night.

Many people assume that the majority of the stock market’s return over time has come from capital gains – growth companies that start

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The full transcript of John Bogle’s recent webinar examining exchange-traded funds and the outlook for America’s investors.

 

As part of the festivities surrounding the 2009 Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting, IndexUniverse.com hosted a live webinar with Vanguard founder and index industry legend John Bogle.

During the one-hour presentation, Mr. Bogle unveiled new research regarding how successful (or not) investors are when trading exchange-traded funds, and took a big picture look at the state of American finance.

Moderated by JoI editor and IndexUniverse.com publisher Jim Wiandt, the webinar features an extensive audience Q&A session. A full transcript follows below.

Jim Wiandt, editor, Journal of Indexes (Wiandt): Good morning everyone, and welcome to a very special event that we have here today. We are actually at the NASDAQ market site and we have the Journal of Indexes editorial board meeting today.

We have

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Researcher and author Larry Swedroe has a definite plan when it comes to rebalancing. And he says buy-and-hold is incorrect terminology.

 

Larry Swedroe is a principal and director of research for St. Louis-based Buckingham Asset Management. He has authored or co-authored seven books. Before joining Buckingham in 1996, he was a senior vice president at Citicorp and vice chairman of Residential Service Corp.

On Monday, IndexUniverse.com Managing Editor Murray Coleman caught up with Swedroe to discuss the plight of bonds and buy-and-hold investing, among other issues. (It should be noted that he and another Buckingham colleague, Joe Hempen, co-authored a book on bond investing in 2006.)

IndexUniverse: Did you recently suggest a portfolio of largely municipal bonds for investors?

Swedroe: That was a reference someone took from an example I was using concerning my own portfolio. I definitely wasn’t making a recommendation for everyone to use. There is no "right" asset allocation—or

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