The American Association of Individual Investors reported a significant drop in bullish investor sentiment this morning. The bullish sentiment fell ten percentage points to 25.40% versus 35.40% last week. This week's reading is the lowest level for bullish sentiment since September 22nd last year when bullish sentiment was reported at 25.33%. The bull/bear spread is now -16.66% versus last week's spread of 6.93%.From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors  Read more...

This post is a little bit off the path of a direct investment market or economic topic that I generally write. However, the observations do have implications for the employment market and how future college graduates might improve their employment prospects.We are entering that time of year where students are celebrating their graduation from high school and college. Having recently attended Indiana University's graduation and talking with some of the graduates, it was evident that not all senio...  Read more...

Standard & Poor's April performance update for the dividend payers versus non-payers in the S&P 500 Index shows the payers outperformed in April. The outperformance was almost 200 basis points or two percentage points, 1.72% versus -.12%, respectively. In spite of the strong April performance for the payers, the payers trail the non-payers on a year to date basis, 13.35% versus 16.40%, respectively. For the twelve month period, the payers have outperformed by more than 700 basis points though.Fr...  Read more...

As many of our clients and prospective clients know, we frequently discuss the strength of the corporate sector of the economy. As the below chart shows, corporate profit growth has continued to strengthen.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsWith this level of corporate profit strength, one has to ask why economic growth (GDP) has not been stronger. The first report on first quarter GDP Friday indicated growth was running at 2.2% versus expectations of 2.5%. A recent post at the blog, Calafia...  Read more...

Better Investing Magazine publishes the most active stocks reported by its membership. The list is based on an informal sampling of Better Investing members. Below is the list of the most active stocks for the period ending April 28, 2012Full View  Read more...

Today's investor sentiment release by the American Association of Individual Investors shows investor bullish sentiment is at the lowest level since September 22, 2011. The bullish sentiment reading was reported at 27.64% or a 3.5% decline from the prior week. This is the lowest reading since the bullish sentiment reading on 9/22/2011 when bullish sentiment was reported at 25.33%. The bull/bear spread is at -9.8% while it was reported at -22.7 on September 22nd of last year. The investor sentime...  Read more...

The first quarter of 2012 ended a period where the equity markets generated two consecutive quarters of strong market returns. Most investors would find the returns generated in the first quarter acceptable for returns in an entire year. The S&P 500 Index was up 12.5%, the MSCI Developed Equities Index was up 11.7% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index was higher by 14.1%. Recent earnings reports for Q1 continue to exceed analyst expectations. Our newsletter covers Q1 events as well as recent even...  Read more...

Apple (AAPL) stock continues to dominate headlines from day to day. Of particular importance will be the company's earnings report on Tuesday after the market's close. Over the last nine trading days, the price of Apple's stock has declined from an all time high of $644/share to close on Friday at $572/share, just above its 50 day moving average of $569/share.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsThe below chart shows AAPL's stock price relative to its longer term trend line. The trend line sup...  Read more...

An interesting display of game theory in the below video. Source: Business Insider  Read more...

On Friday, Procter & Gamble (PG) announced a 7.05% increase in the company's quarterly dividend. The dividend increases to 56.2 cents per quarter versus 52.5 cents in the same quarter last year. The 7% increase is one of the lowest rate of increases in recent years. The payout ratio increases to 56.8% based on fiscal year 2012 estimated earnings of $3.96. Earnings for FY 2013 are estimated at $4.30 or growth of a little over 8%.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsOn a one year basis the stock...  Read more...