Today's release of AAII's Investor Sentiment Survey saw bullish investor sentiment increase 10.5 percentage points to 49.0%. This reading is right at the average plus one standard deviation level. The bull/bear spread widen to +27.4%. The weekly reading can be volatile so looking at the 8-week moving average smooths some of this volatility. This week's 8-week average is reported at 33.7%, up from 32.3% last week.From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors  Read more...

In the final second of trading on Friday, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) goes from a $90 stock and trades down to $.01, that is a penny a share before closing at $90.03. I am sure some buyers (computers) thought they were fortunate to pick up APC at one penny. On the contrary, the NYSE canceled trades executed below $87.56 per share.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsFrom The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsThis type of trading activity certainly weighs on investor confidence in the markets an...  Read more...

As the market continues to seemingly move higher every day, investor complacency appears to be on the rise. The recent CBOE equity put/call ratio is at a low level of .50. Like other sentiment indicators, this measure tends to be more accurate at extremes. On April 20th we wrote about the elevated put/call ratio and wondered if the market was excessively bearish. Since the time of that post, the market has advanced over 7%.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsAdditionally, fixed income assets ...  Read more...

Morningstar recently reported the number of bond funds buying or holding stocks is at the highest level in 18 years. The below chart from Charles Schwab details data over the last ten years. Schwab/Morningstar note the percentage of bond funds holding equities has remained stable over this time period though. Nonetheless, more bond funds are buying equities in an effort to find higher yielding securities than currently available from bonds.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsSource: Charles S...  Read more...

Not much seems able to restrain the strength of the bull market in U.S. equities. On a year to date basis the S&P 500 Index is up 15.43%. The advance has finally drawn investors into equity mutual funds as reflected in positive equity mutual fund flows the first three months of the year.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsThe positive market results continue to keep the S&P 500 Index in a positive uptrend channel that began in the middle of November of last year. Aside from the fact company f...  Read more...

In a recent AlphaNow report from Thomson Reuters, it shows U.S. companies that generate a majority of their revenues from the U.S. are outperforming the broader market S&P 500 Index. The report highlights that 150 companies/stocks generated at least 95% of their revenues within the USA and outperformed the S&P 500. On a 2013 year to date basis (through May 1), they note their total return beat the S&P 500: 15% vs. 12%, and 31% to 21% in the past two years.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsT...  Read more...

We noted in a post a week and a half ago that the market's defensive sectors have been the main driver of the S&P 500 Index's strong performance this year. In this earlier post, Sector Rotation May Be Underway, we noted investors may be rotating out of the defensive sectors and into the more cyclical ones. In that regard, J. C.Parets of All Star Charts wrote an interesting article showing the more cyclical sectors recent strong performance vs. the staples sector is retesting resistance for the ...  Read more...

If you think this sounds too good to be true, you’re wrong. The Endow Kentucky Tax Credit enables any Kentucky taxpayer (business or individual) to receive a state tax credit of up to 20% of their charitable gift to a permanent endowment fund approved by the program (up to $10,000 per taxpayer). This limited-time opportunity is available for fiscal year 2014 which begins in July 2013. (2013 credits have been exhausted). Each fiscal year has $500,000 in tax credits available.    ...  Read more...

Ten years ago Standard and Poor's released its Equal Weighted S&P 500 Index (EWI). Since that time a number of index firms have created equal weighted ETFs that investors are able to invest in directly. In S&P's recently released white paper, 10 Years Later: Where In The World Is Equal Weight Indexing Now?, they cover a great deal of the historical data on the equal weighted index relative to the more common market cap weighted S&P 500 Index. Due to the cap weighted nature of the S&P 500, one ob...  Read more...

In this low interest rate environment, investor search parameters on Google indicate investors have a propensity for dividend paying stocks at this point in time. Last week we noted in our post, Sector Rotation May Be Underway, that the defensive sectors in the S&P 500 Index generated strong outperformance versus the more cyclical sectors this year. A common characteristic of these defensive sectors is they comprise some of the better dividend yielding stocks. A caution for investors is many of ...  Read more...