A Good End to a Good Week – The Aleph Blog

Helping Institutions and Ordinary People Invest Better by Focusing on Risk Control

Posted on 10 March 200711 March 2007 by David Merkel

The Broad Market portfolio was up a little more than 2% this week. The economic sensitivity of the portfolio helped, as did the Latin American names in the portfolio: SABESP, Cemex, Industrias Bachoco, and Grupo Casa Saba.

The week was characterized by a retreat from perceived systemic risk As the week went on risk went from general to localized. The true offenders in the subprime lending world were taken out and executed, and the rest of the market recovered.

I have been sounding bullish of late, but I want to caution you regarding the dangers of this present market. Though this panic did not spread to the market on the whole, it is possible that a future crisis might be more virulent. Remember, the current market prosperity relies on free trade in goods and services; any interruption of that could lead to a major decline. Bad FOMC policy is another risk here as well. Profit growth has slowed significantly as well. There are reasons to be concerned, but if you are concerned, tweak your portfolio toward less risk. Don’t leave the party entirely, but choose stocks with strong balance sheets and cheap valuations, and raise a little cash.

Full disclosure: SAB IBA CX SBS

David Merkel is an investment professional, and like every investment professional, he makes mistakes. David encourages you to do your own independent "due diligence" on any idea that he talks about, because he could be wrong. Nothing written here, at RealMoney, Wall Street All-Stars, or anywhere else David may write is an invitation to buy or sell any particular security; at most, David is handing out educated guesses as to what the markets may do. David is fond of saying, "The markets always find a new way to make a fool out of you," and so he encourages caution in investing. Risk control wins the game in the long run, not bold moves. Even the best strategies of the past fail, sometimes spectacularly, when you least expect it. David is not immune to that, so please understand that any past success of his will be probably be followed by failures. Also, though David runs Aleph Investments, LLC, this blog is not a part of that business. This blog exists to educate investors, and give something back. It is not intended as advertisement for Aleph Investments; David is not soliciting business through it. When David, or a client of David's has an interest in a security mentioned, full disclosure will be given, as has been past practice for all that David does on the web. Disclosure is the breakfast of champions. Additionally, David may occasionally write about accounting, actuarial, insurance, and tax topics, but nothing written here, at RealMoney, or anywhere else is meant to be formal "advice" in those areas. Consult a reputable professional in those areas to get personal, tailored advice that meets the specialized needs that David can have no knowledge of.