Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) turned in nice results for the year ending 2010, but, on an apples to apples basis, organic results are not as strong as many in the media are reporting. Even in Warren Buffett's must read annual shareholder letter he warns the media not to focus on net income due to the ease in which it can be manipulated. Mr. Buffett notes on page 20 of his annual letter:"Let’s focus here on a number we omitted, but which many in the media feature above all others: net income. Import...  Read more...

Wisconsin seems to be ground zero in the debate on public employee cost versus private sector employees. The issue has moved to the forefront due to most states needing to deal with significant budget deficits. And these deficits have been magnified due to the persistently high unemployment rate experienced even as the economy has come out of the last recession.As the below chart shows, the salaries of state and local government workers, as well as benefits, have grown out a faster pace than for...  Read more...

The recent financial actions by companies provide verification that corporate fundamentals have continued to strengthen. Howard Silverblatt of Standard & Poor's notes on his Bloomberg BusinessWeek blog, Investing Insights, that:Dividend increases so far in Q1 2011 are very strong with the average increase equaling 22.65% and the median increase totaling 12.20%.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsCash has set 8 consecutive quarters of record cash levels: Q4 2008 – Q3 2010. Cash in Q4 2010 is ...  Read more...

Many segments of the U.S. stock market have retraced a large portion of the losses that occurred from October 2007 through March 2009. Chart of the Day provides the below detail on this recovery."For some perspective on the post-financial crisis rally, today's chart illustrates how much of the downturn that occurred as a result of the financial crisis has been retraced by each of the five major stock market indexes. For example, the Dow peaked at 14,164.53 back in October 9, 2007 and troughe...  Read more...

In a severe stock bear market it is often said that the market can remain irrational longer than an investor can remain solvent. In a market like investors are experiencing at this moment, some believe the market is being irrational on the upside. At what point in time will we see investors react by jumping in because they fear being left behind and missing out on significant upside gains? Year to date through February 11, 2011 the S&P 500 Index is up 5.9%. On a 12-month basis the S&P is up over...  Read more...

Investors are speaking with their feet as municipal bond fund flows are strongly negative. The below chart includes flow data through December. Updated data for January is available at the Investment Company Institute's website. January fund flow data shows strong negative flows continued for municipal investments at the start of this year.From The Blog of HORAN Capital Advisors  Read more...

The below chart shows the unemployment level in the U.S. by an individual's education level. Individuals that have obtained a college degree find themselves less likely to be unemployed.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsThe higher rate of unemployment for those with less than a bachelors degree may be the result of a structural shift in the composition of the type of jobs now available to individuals. As the following chart details, the steady decline in the number of people employed in man...  Read more...

For the month of January, the average return for the dividend payers in the S&P 500 Index slightly underperformed the non-payers, 2.08% versus 2.10%, respectively. On a weighted basis the S&P 500 Index total return equaled 2.37% while the equal weighted return for the index was 2.22%. This is an indication that the larger capitalization stocks may be gaining favor with investors. On a 5 and 10 year basis, the S&P 500 Index has lagged the performance of the midcap and small cap indices.From The B...  Read more...

Inflation pressures have been finding their way into commodity prices. Much of this commodity price inflation may be the result of investor speculation; however, commodity price pressures are having an impact on some of the emerging market economies. Inflation has not shown in the U.S. consumer price index, but an increase in the velocity of money may provide investors with insight into future inflation.From The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsFrom The Blog of HORAN Capital AdvisorsThe importance ...  Read more...

The events in Egypt over the last week are now dominating headlines and impacting recent market actions. Many are commenting about the events in Egypt so I will not restate what is occurring in that part of the world. Readers can follow the news on Reuters live coverage link.The events in that country have provided investors with a reason to take profits though. Often times market pullbacks or corrections occur as the result of unpredictable events. Given the strength of the market's advance sin...  Read more...