Monday, December 31, 2018

Bubble
Trouble!
Image result for mish high yield to 10 year t-bonds

The sell-off in stocks isn’t the only ominous economic sign emanating from financial markets. The bond markets, much more closely linked to the actual economy, are also flashing a warning. 
The sudden increase — “widening” in the bond market’s lingo — is telling us that investors are suddenly more nervous about handing over their cash to corporations. The same change in sentiment is playing out in the stock market and the reasons are largely the same.
 Image result for high yield bonds long term chart
DYI:  The Great Wait being over is now sooner as the long awaited crashing of insane valuation begins their decline.  This is typical for a first event of significance with stress in the high yield bond market.  Vanguard’s High-Yield Corporate Fund Investor Shares (VWEHX) current yield as of 12/31/18 is 6.68% showing signs of a slowing economy with the very real possibility of recession in 2019.  DYI’s model portfolio is locked and loaded holding 68% in short dated bond fund waiting as our valuation averaging formulas allows us to begin bargain hunting.
 Updated Monthly

AGGRESSIVE PORTFOLIO - ACTIVE ALLOCATION - 01/1/19

Active Allocation Bands (excluding cash) 0% to 50%
68% - Cash -Short Term Bond Index - VBIRX
29% -Gold- Global Capital Cycles Fund - VGPMX
 3% -Lt. Bonds- Long Term Bond Index - VBLTX
 0% -Stocks- Total Stock Market Index - VTSAX
Hold onto your hat and your cash; economic and financial markets are becoming interesting!
DYI

Sunday, December 30, 2018

%
Stock & Bonds
Allocation Formula
01-01-19
Updated Monthly

% Allocation = 100 – [100 x (Current PE10 – Avg. PE10 / 4)  /  (Avg.PE10 x 2 – Avg. PE10 / 2)]


% Stock Allocation   6% (rounded)
% Bond Allocation  94% (rounded) 

Logic behind this approach:
--As the stock market becomes more expensive, a conservative investor's stock allocation should go down. The rationale recognizes the reduced expected future returns for stocks, and the increasing risk. 
--The formula acknowledges the increased likelihood of the market falling from current levels based on historical valuation levels and regression to the mean, rather than from volatility. Many agree this is the key to value investing.  
Please note there is controversy regarding the divisor (Avg. PE10).  The average since 1881 as reported by Multpl.com is 16.70.  However, Larry Swedroe and others believe that using a revised Shiller P/E mean of 19.6 , the number since 1960 ( a 53-year period), reflects more modern accounting procedures.


DYI adheres to the long view where over time the legacy (prior 1959) values will be absorbed into the average.  Also it can be said with just as much vigor the last 25 years corporate America has been noted for accounting irregularities.  So....If you use the higher or lower number, or average them, you'll be within the guide posts of value.

Please note:  I changed the formula when the Shiller PE10 is trading at it's mean stocks and bonds will be at 50% - 50% representing Ben Graham's Defensive investor starting point; only deviating from that norm as valuations rise or fall.        
  
DYI


This blog site is not a registered financial advisor, broker or securities dealer and The Dividend Yield Investor is not responsible for what you do with your money.
This site strives for the highest standards of accuracy; however ERRORS AND OMISSIONS ARE ACCEPTED!
The Dividend Yield Investor is a blog site for entertainment and educational purposes ONLY.
The Dividend Yield Investor shall not be held liable for any loss and/or damages from the information herein.
Use this site at your own risk.

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS.

The Formula.

A value based allocation strategy

Margin of Safety!


Central Concept of Investment for the purchase of Common Stocks.
"The danger to investors lies in concentrating their purchases in the upper levels of the market..."

Stocks compared to bonds:
Earnings Yield Coverage Ratio - [EYC Ratio]

EYC Ratio = 1/PE10 x 100 x 1.1 / Bond Rate
1.75 plus: Safe for large lump sums & DCA
1.30 plus: Safe for DCA

1.29 or less: Mid-Point - Hold stocks and purchase bonds.

1.00 or less: Sell stocks - Purchase Bonds

Current EYC Ratio: 0.95 (rounded)
As of  01-01-19
Updated Monthly

PE10 as report by Multpl.com
DCA is Dollar Cost Averaging.
Lump Sum any amount greater than yearly salary.

PE10  ..........27.51
Bond Rate...4.21%

Over a ten-year period the typical excess of stock earnings power over bond interest may aggregate 4/3 of the price paid. This figure is sufficient to provide a very real margin of safety--which, under favorable conditions, will prevent or minimize a loss......If the purchases are made at the average level of the market over a span of years, the prices paid should carry with them assurance of an adequate margin of safety.  The danger to investors lies in concentrating their purchases in the upper levels of the market.....

Common Sense Investing:
The Papers of Benjamin Graham
Benjamin Graham

Thursday, December 27, 2018

When you don’t know what is really going on “FOLLOW THE MONEY!

The
Border
Wall
Pacifier for the Delusional?
Image result for baby pacifier pictures
This excerpt is from the comment section [St. Funogas] from Mish Talk titled F the Wall.
Imagine if you were in a POW camp in WW II. There is absolutely no penalty for trying to escape. If you get caught, they bring you back, put you back in your barracks, and that’s it. Since there is no penalty for escaping, you’d have to be pretty screwed up in the head to just sit there instead of trying to escape. It’s the same with illegals, except instead of trying to escape; they are trying to get in. There is no penalty to speak of. You get caught; you get deported so you can try again. So a wall is totally useless. As long as there are jobs and welfare here, they are going to keep coming. The reward is far greater than the possible penalty. So don’t blame the illegals. Don’t blame the employers either. They need workers, there is little risk of penalty, so again, and the reward far outweighs the risk. Why is there so little risk? There’s not a single SOB in Washington who wants to fix the “problem”. It has a very cheap, easy fix, yet nobody in government wants to implement it. 
Republicans love illegals because they are good for business. 
Democrats love illegals because they are great for the welfare programs and their children are future Democrat voters. 
Both parties love illegals because illegals pay taxes and they pay into social security. And they never draw that social security back out and very few file tax returns to get their tax rebates. 
It’s a huge win/win for SSA and the IRS. 
In my ten years working with illegals, they all have fake green cards and fake social security cards. They are not paid under the table as most people think. There is no need for that. The employer covers his ass by making copies of the illegal’s credentials just like they do for the legal. It’s not the employer’s responsibility to verify those credentials if the government itself is not willing to verify them. The employer can’t get any other workers (in my field at least) so why should the employer give a rat’s ass about whether their documents are legal or not? When the illegals get their first paycheck, the employer gets a letter back from the SSA saying that the social security number did not match the name. So right off the bat Uncle Sam knows this person is an illegal and does nothing about it. Why would they? That illegal is paying into a fund that is bankrupt and the SSA needs all the money they can get. So again, don’t blame the employer. They’re just trying to run a business using the only workers they can get. 
If anybody in Washington DC wanted to do anything about illegals, they’d have every employer purchase a credit card type machine to do instant E-verify of every worker’s documents. Every welfare office, food stamp office etc., would have the same machines. Last time I crossed back into the USA from Mexico on foot, all the Mexicans ahead of me in line were doing just that, swiping their green cards through a reader before they were waved through. The technology is already in place, yet nobody is doing a thing to get those machines installed in businesses. 
Why? 
Nobody in Washington wants to fix the “problem” because none of them see it as a problem. Only a few of us “We the People” see it as a problem. But when has the opinion of We the People ever mattered in Washington DC? When things just don’t make sense, check your premises. In this case, the premise that anybody in Washington wants to fix this is clearly a very bogus premise. The Wall is just one more gimmick to pacify the delusional.
DYI:  Totally spot on!  This blogger lived in El Paso, TX from 1980 to 1997 understanding the border dynamics is no stranger.  As long as Mexico and Central American countries remain dirt poor and the U.S. remains wealthy the draw will be irresistible.  Only when there is economic parity such as Canada will illegal migration cease.  Until then both political parties are full in on the employer money game [Republicans] and political power through the welfare state [Democrats].  Politicians from either party listening to “We the People” will not stand a chance.  In my opinion Trump’s wall is nothing more than time killing political theater designed to keep the party going for Democrat’s and Republican interests along with the elites who profit.

There is one huge lesson this commenter has endeared to us:  When you don’t know what is really going on “FOLLOW THE MONEY!
DYI

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Image result for S&P 500 Slips into Bear Territory mish chart pictures
Bear markets — typically defined as 20 percent or more off a recent peak — are threatening investors worldwide. In the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite closed in a bear market on Friday and the S&P 500 entered one on Monday. Globally, Germany’s DAX, China’s Shanghai Composite and Japan’s Nikkei have also entered bear market levels. 
More generally, investors have fewer reasons to be optimistic now because the Fed tightening monetary policy means there will be less money for investments, said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank.

Nasdaq, “Tech,” & IPOs are in for Gut-Wrencher

That would make sense: The year 2000 was when the dotcom bubble began to collapse catastrophically, and everyone tried to get their heroes out the IPO window before it would close for years to come. The Nasdaq, where these IPOs were concentrated, would eventually crash 78% from its peak in March 2000, with catastrophic consequences for those who’d bought the hype.

SANTA CLAUS RALLY TURNS INTO MARKET CARNAGE: 

Precious Metals Push Higher In A Sea Of Red

It was very interesting to see just about everything trade deeply in the RED today except for the precious metals.  Gold was up nicely by $13+ and silver gained nearly 1%.  Hell, even the U.S. Dollar Index fell 33 points.  I was quite surprised to see the oil price fall that much on Christmas Eve after it has been down 40% since the beginning of October.  The West Texas Intermediate Oil price fell $2.91 to a new low of $42.53.  That is very BAD NEWS because it is now below the very critical 400 Month MA of $43.83:
DYI:  With all of the carnage the oil market has now moved into the bargain range.  How much lower is anyone’s guess?  What we do know dividend yields for oil/gas exploration and development companies has improved due to their lower stock price.  Currently Adam’s Natural Resource Fund [symbol PEO] yield is 4.61%.  A decent yield while you wait for a recovery in oil prices.  If oil prices drop further this would only be an encouragement to buy additional shares dollar cost averaging into a higher yield.  Obviously this is not within the realm of DYI’s model portfolio but when this possible opportunity presents it self I like to pass it along.
DYI

Monday, December 24, 2018

World Wide
Recession?
Image result for crude bear market  mish chart pictures
DYI:  For those of you who are following DYI’s Oil Indicator please be aware stock market valuations are so high they have left planet earth!  Low oil/gas prices generally are very positive for equity investors as energy makes the world economies purr like a kitten.  However this time around starting at sky high valuations plus an economy that has been growing for ten years a steep drop for oil and gas could very well be signifying a world wide recession right around the corner.  This being said valuations trump my Oil Indicator.  When valuations are more positive a drop in oil/gas prices – even if that preceded a recession – would produce an excellent time to acquire stocks at lower valuations hence enhanced future returns.

DYI
Buckle Up!
We’re in for a Bumpy Ride! 
A death cross is formed when a stock’s 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day moving average. The bearish technical move implies the rapid deterioration of a stock’s upward momentum.
DYI:  This is the type of fireworks DYI has been anticipating for longer than I care to admit; as valuations for the long term investor as opposed to speculators has bumped us out of the stock market and in our opinion rightfully so!  Is this the long awaited downdraft??  Maybe!? Who knows for sure?

What we do know stocks purchased or held today, going to sleep like Rip Van Winkle waking 12 years from now your average annual estimated return is – drum roll please – 2.80%.  I’m actually amazed that the return is positive.  However this is a nominal return before management fees, commission, trading impact costs, taxes, and of course the biggest tax INFLATION!  Factor in a typical 401k with a managed stock fund with a 1% management fee with a typical 0.50% trading impact drag on performance plus the Fed’s achieve their 2% inflation that equals 3.5%.  Subtract that from 2.8% nominal return you now have an estimated return after all costs negative 0.7%!
Updated Monthly

AGGRESSIVE PORTFOLIO - ACTIVE ALLOCATION - 12/1/18

Active Allocation Bands (excluding cash) 0% to 50%
56% - Cash -Short Term Bond Index - VBIRX
36% -Gold- Global Capital Cycles Fund - VGPMX
 8% -Lt. Bonds- Long Term Bond Index - VBLTX
 0% -Stocks- Total Stock Market Index - VTSAX
[See Disclaimer]
 So….If you have any debts such as a car/truck payment, credit cards or student loans put extra dollars there first as those interest costs are greater than the return from stocks.  Hang on to your cash better valuations are ahead.  The Great Wait may have ended as the long awaited bear market arrives.
TILL NEXT TIME 
  DYI
Here is the link to Money Chip all you have to do is plug in the numbers – they do the math – to determine the estimated average annual return for stocks.
          
      

Friday, December 21, 2018

Central Bank
Follies

Q-review 4/2018: The path to the Global Depression

The world economy has never faced a more perilous situation. While many have just started to debate whether a recession will start in 2019 or 2020, very few perceive the ’black hole’ the global economy is about to get sucked into. 
The hole has two main “gravitational forces”: the wide-spread mispricing of risk and stagnating productivity growth. Central bank meddling with their bond buying programs (QE) have seriously distorted prices in the capital markets, which means that risk has also been mispriced in vast magnitude. The implications and repercussions of the six-year period of stagnating global productivity growth has also not been understood. These intertwined developments will lead the world economy into a serious economic downfall, a Global Depression.
We devoted most of the March issue of our Q-review to explain how the asset purchase (QE) programs of the central banks have created an environment which encourages risk-taking, leverage and yield-hunting. At the heart of it is the suppression of yields on assets considered safe, most crucially government bonds, which have been the primary target of their QE-programs. QE created a stupendous, multi-year pulse of artificial central bank liquidity forced into the financial system. As the major central banks kept on pumping it eventually ended up increasing the price of almost every single asset class in the world with the possible exception of precious metals.

DYI:  Unfortunately the odds of a worldwide depression has grown exponentially as 1st world central banks employed either sub atomic low or negative interest rates jacking up asset prices [except precious metals] to insane valuations.  Huge distortions will be worked off as the economy attempts to regain some sense of balance.  Of course the dislocation will result in sky high unemployment as long as 3 to 5 years devastating many of our citizens.  As high as 10 to 15 percent could actually become homeless creating a national emergency that could actually make matters worse depending upon the Fed’s course of action.  Be as that may be; DYI envisions a decline of the S&P 500 from top to bottom between 60% to 75% over a multi-year time period.

So buckle up the ride is going to a bit bumpy.
DYI

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Contrarian
Indicator?

Kudlow: 'Recession is so far in the distance I can't see it'

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday dismissed talk of a potential recession on the horizon, saying he doesn't see a slowdown happening anytime soon. 
"The basic economy has reawakened and it's gonna stay there," Kudlow told reporters at the White House. "I mean, I'm reading some of the weirdest stuff, how a recession is around the corner — nonsense."
DYI:  Larry Kudlow’s track record as a financial forecaster is so poor he has become unto himself a contrarian indicator increasing  the possibility of recession in 2019 has just increased a notch after his pronouncement.  So far the only shoe that has dropped is increasing credit spreads between high yield bonds as compared to same maturity paying Treasury notes or bonds.  The rest of DYI’s indicators remain positive but have been degrading over the past 6 months. 
DYI

Monday, December 17, 2018


Bubble

News

Recent market 'jolt' will be first of many as easy money era ends, says BIS

LONDON (Reuters) - Recent sharp selloffs across global financial markets are probably the first of many, as investors adjust to a world of tighter monetary conditions and the threat of economic downturn, the Bank of International Settlements said on Sunday.

17-year-old Walmart employee quits over store intercom: 'Nobody should work here, ever'

The teen quit his job at the Walmart Grande Prairie Supercentre in Alberta, Canada, by reading a prepared speech into a store-wide intercom system, Insider reports. 
"Attention all shoppers, associates and management, I would like to say to all of you today that nobody should work here, ever," he said over the speakers. "Our managers will make promises and never keep them." 
The teen also claims that Walmart managers attempt to cut costs by reducing full-time associates to part-time workers, something that the behemoth retailer has been accused of in the past. "I'm sick of all the b-------, bogus write-ups and my job," Racicot concluded. "F--- management, f--- this job and f---- Walmart." 
Racicot's recording captures some listeners applauding his speech.

Neofeudalism Isn't a Flaw of the System--It's the System Working Perfectly

We appear to be free but we're powerless to change the power asymmetry between the New Nobility and the commoners. This reality is reified into social relations that are simulacra of actual power, pantomimes acted out in media-theaters to instill the belief that the foundational myths of democracy and social mobility are real rather than misleading shadows. 
This marriage of state power to create credit and its monopoly on force with private-sector financial power is the core relation of neofeudalism. The only possible output of this structure is a mass of powerless debt-serfs enriching the New Nobility, who are slavishly served by a nomenklatura class of "liberal" technocrats and managers tasked with promoting pantomimes and simulacra as "the real thing."
The FDIC just released the aggregated third-quarter performance metrics of the 5,477 banks and thrifts it insures. The amount of their combined assets ticked up to $17.7 trillion. These assets – mostly loans but also investments of all kinds – include $3.6 trillion in securities (not including the securities in their trading accounts). And banks got hit by the biggest quarterly losses on those securities since the first quarter of 2009. 
So, losses on Treasury securities that are held to maturity are only temporary and will reverse as the maturity dates approach — during times of smooth sailing. However, if the bank is forced to sell those Treasury securities and other high-quality securities at fire-sale prices, as it might be during a liquidity crisis, which is what happened to some banks in 2007 through 2009, it may incur sharp and permanent losses on the securities it has to sell. These losses, in stressed times, can then combine with losses from other corners of the bank’s operations and balance sheet into a very toxic mix.
 DYI

Thursday, December 13, 2018

Medical Industrial Complex 
Image result for medical care to GDP chart pictures

Executives at more than a dozen generic-drug companies had a form of shorthand to describe how they conducted business, insider lingo worked out over steak dinners, cocktail receptions and rounds of golf. 
The “sandbox,” according to investigators, was the market for generic prescription drugs, where everyone was expected to play nice. 
“Fair share” described dividing up the sales pie to ensure that each company reaped continued profits. “Trashing the market” was used when a competitor ignored these unwritten rules and sold drugs for less than agreed-upon prices.
What started as an antitrust lawsuit brought by states over just two drugs in 2016 has exploded into an investigation of alleged price-fixing involving at least 16 companies and 300 drugs, Joseph Nielsen, an assistant attorney general and antitrust investigator in Connecticut who has been a leading force in the probe, said in an interview. His comments in an interview with The Washington Post represent the first public disclosure of the dramatically expanded scale of the investigation. 
But investigators say voluminous documentation they have collected, much of it under seal and not available to the public, shows the industry to be riddled with price-fixing schemes. The plaintiffs now include 47 states. The investigators expect to unveil new details and add more defendants in coming months, which will put more pressure on executives to consider settlements.
DYI:  If anyone thinks this is only the generic drug companies pulling all of this CRIMINAL behavior then think again and think damn hard.  This has been going on for over 30 to even possibly 40 years plus.  Ramping up medical cost from the 1960’s at around 5% of GDP and fast forward to now at a staggering 21%!

So far the Fed’s could care less but they should as Medicare alone spends yearly either directly or indirectly 1.5 trillion!  All told the total spent by our citizens either through private insurance and out of pocket expenses are around 3.5 trillion per year which is double among developed countries.

Settlements???   

If Connecticut or any other State will only press for monetary settlements and not charge these criminals and for once throw them into the slammer why shouldn’t they continue to break the law?  Guess what; they will, if it isn’t the same executive it will be the new one.  Start putting these guys and some are women as well into a real prison for 5 years plus these shenanigans will end faster than a New York minute.  Health care would then drop – depending on severity of illness – 65% to 90%!  That’s not a typo!
 DYI
Canary in the Coalmine? 

“Severe Collapse” of Home Prices Might Trigger a “Financial-Institution Crisis” in Australia: OECD Frets about the Banks

Australia’s household indebtedness, mostly tied to mortgages, and mostly owed to the above big four banks, reached 200% of net household disposable income, the highest ratio in the world. Even Canadian households can’t keep up with that. And US households, after the Financial Crisis, just fell off the mortgage wagon:
Image result for australia debt to income ratio 2018 chart pictures
Australia debt to income 200%
And this housing downturn is happening even as Australia’s central bank (RBA) has kept interest rates at a record low 1.5%, which stimulated the housing market until it didn’t. 
So “a start to policy-rate normalization is now firmly on the horizon.” And “Though there are risks” to this “gradual tightening” envisioned by the OECD, “it could potentially bring welcome unwinding of the tensions and imbalances that have accumulated from the low-interest environment, notably housing-related issues.” 
Which should have been done years ago before “the tensions and imbalances” got so big that they threaten to trigger the next financial crisis.
DYI:  Why report on Australia’s woes??  Remember just prior to the 2008-2009 down turn when Iceland’s banks collapsed [Sept. 2008]??  Most folks just scratched their heads not realizing that was the kick off to a massive world wide economic recession/depression [depending on country] only a few months later.  Will Australia be the canary in the coal mine?  I don’t know.  What I do know the U.S. and many other countries have severe economic imbalances and the beginning has to start somewhere.  If it is Australia; so be it.
Till Next Time   
DYI

As U.S. citizens be alarmed that a foreign government, Israel, is lobbying U.S. politicians to restrict our rights.

Bill of Rights
1st Amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

SENATORS WORKING TO SLIP ISRAEL ANTI-BOYCOTT LAW THROUGH IN LAME DUCK

The Senate measure, which has a House companion, is part of a broad push to undermine support of BDS in both the U.S. and Europe, often conflating the boycott with anti-Semitism. According to the activist group Palestine Legal, which monitors anti-BDS [Boycott, Sanctions, and Divestment movement] legislation across the country, as of June 2018, 25 states had enacted laws punishing businesses that choose to boycott Israel. In 2017, one city in Texas even required businesses to certify that they would not boycott Israel before receiving hurricane aid.

The Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which was introduced last year by Cardin and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would amend the 1979 Export Administration Act to allow penalties for companies who join boycotts of Israel called for by international institutions — like the United Nations or the European Union. The new version clarifies that people cannot face jail time for participating in a boycott, but the ACLU has argued that it still leaves the door open for criminal financial penalties. Defenders of the bill say that it is strictly aimed at preventing companies from facing pressure to boycott Israel and that it is not meant to restrict an individual’s free speech.


TEXAS CITY TELLS PEOPLE NO HURRICANE HARVEY AID UNLESS THEY PROMISE NOT TO BOYCOTT ISRAEL
HOUSTON — The city of Dickinson, Texas, is requiring applicants for Hurricane Harvey rebuilding funds to certify in writing that they will not take part in a boycott of Israel. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the city’s condition as a violation of free speech rights.

“The First Amendment protects Americans’ right to boycott, and the government cannot condition hurricane relief or any other public benefit on a commitment to refrain from protected political expression,” said ACLU of Texas Legal Director Andre Segura. “Dickinson’s requirement is an egregious violation of the First Amendment, reminiscent of McCarthy-era loyalty oaths requiring Americans to disavow membership in the Communist party and other forms of ‘subversive’ activity.”

The city appears to be enforcing a recently passed Texas law that requires all state contractors to certify that they are not participating in boycotts of Israel. While the ACLU does not take a position on boycotts of foreign countries, the organization has long supported the right to participate in political boycotts and has voiced opposition to laws and bills that infringe on the right to boycott.

DYI:  This blogger is a Constitutional loving American who just happens to be Jewish.  If I want to boycott or criticize Israel – and I have in the past on this blog – it is my RIGHT along with yours as well.  This proposed legislation along with those laws enacted in 25 State is clearly UNAMERICAN!  This is a McCarthy era mentality being driven by a foreign government for their benefit.  This is obvious massive involvement by the Israeli government to change laws benefitting them and has successfully in 25 States.   I have to say this; the residents of Dickinson, Texas most likely never thought much about Israel whether positive or negative until this absurd “loyalty oath” had to be signed to receive Hurricane Harvey rebuilding funds.  You can bet you’re A$$ Israel is now seen in negative light and when a so called “conspiracy theorist” states that America is on its way to a full blown fascist state many of the citizen of Dickerson just became new found believers when the truth through insane laws is shoved down their throats!

DYI