Commentary

In just the past week, the market has had to deal with bloodshed and revolution in Libya, Iran warships in the Suez Canal, Oil prices above $100/barrel and protests over an almost bankrupt State of Wisconsin. Individually these are potentially market moving events. Taken together they are sending stock prices lower, hitting the markets during a particularly vulnerable period when […]

There is an old Sesame Street song that will forever remain in my memory: “One of these things is not like the other.” The song is usually accompanied by several items that are the same and one different. We have been commenting for several months now about the growing divergence between corporate high yield bonds and equities. In short, while […]

Forget about the lazy days of summer. Violent price declines in global financial markets have investors on edge. As of Monday August 8th, the S&P 500 has declined more than -13% in the first 6 trading days of the month, taking the S&P negative more than -11% for the year. Anchor Capital’s Absolute Return strategies have remained hedged and/or net […]

In the past six months markets have had more ups and downs than a Shakespearean drama. Looking at the cumulative points traded on the S&P 500 regardless of advancing or declining days since June 1, the S&P has traveled a total of 2,383 points through December 20, 2011. That is more than double the value of the index! The entire value of the S&P 500 has experienced 200% turnover in just the last 6 months. And what do we have to show for it? A loss of -7.1% for the S&P since June 1.