Score another point in favor of the soft patch theory vs. expecting a new recession around the next corner. New orders for durable goods rose by a seasonally 1.9% in May, reversing the previous month’s sharp 2.7% loss. If we strip out some of the volatile sectors of the report, there’s still a pop in last month’s tally. For example, ignoring transportation equipment leaves durable goods orders up by 0.6%; excluding defense translates into a 1.9% gain for the rest of new orders for durable goods.
Daily Archives: June 24, 2011
The Limits Of Looking For The Perfect Index Fund
SmartMoney frets that innovation in index fund design may be going too far. “Financial firms are racing to improve the classic index fund. But are they improving it to death?” wonders Rehma Kapadia. Perhaps, although it’s important to keep the indexing wars in perspective when it comes to real world money management. If you’re choosing index funds, you should choose carefully, of course. Beware of new-fangled products that promise the moon. But there’s a point of diminishing returns by diving ever deeper into the minutiae of fund design in an effort to identify the absolute best products, or the worst. Most of your analytical efforts should be directed at the far-more crucial aspect of investing: asset allocation design and management. That doesn’t mean you can ignore individual fund analysis, but don’t let it overwhelm your research efforts.