Markman Capital Insight

Risk Rewarded Blog

The latest investment strategies and insights from Markman Capital Insight. Helping investors get the most reward from every ounce of risk.  The latest investment strategies and insights from Markman Capital Insight. Helping investors get the most reward from every ounce of risk. 

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This Ex-Fed insider expects rapid rate hikes

Everybody in the world of finance has an opinion about when the Federal Reserve will start raising rates, and how swiftly rates will rise after that. But not all opinions are equally valuable. Indeed, there are very few that we should really heed.One person whose opinion deserves to be at the forefront of our thinking is a former Fed insider named Athanasios...

  • June 18th, 2015
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How to anticipate and react to a Greek debt default

The big issue for those of us who do not live in Greece is whether we should care at all. The answer is not that easy. The question is not whether an exit would negatively impact the earnings of the multinational companies that we own as investors but whether it would be emblematic of a larger global finance infirmity.TIS Group analysts point out that...

  • June 18th, 2015
Ambarella, one of our favorite ideas,  is up 140% in 2015 -- now what?

Ambarella, one of our favorite ideas, is up 140% in 2015 -- now what?

Ambarella (AMBA), the video chip maker behind the GoPro (GPRO) extreme-sports cameras, commercial HD video compression and IP-connected security cameras has been on a tear. The growth of the surveillance and flamboyance state is fueling its sensational success, with earnings up 184% in the past quarter on a 73.5% growth in revenues.This...

  • June 18th, 2015
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Why regional banks should continue to lead

Banks, entertainment and medical care have been rolling higher recently and these groups are a great combination for leadership. By the way the banks are particularly strong and there is a good chance they will keep it up. Just keep in mind that regional banks respond positively to higher interest rates because they get to charge more for mortgages...

  • June 18th, 2015
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As investors await U.S. rate hike, 'emerging markets' submerge

After a tepid performance at the start of the year, the U.S. economy appears to be revving back up as job gains reaccelerate.Payrolls jumped by 280,000 in May vs. the 220,000 analysts were expecting; up from the 119,000 gain in March and the 221,000 gain in April. Employers are returning to the pace of job creation seen at the end of 2014, before Frosty...

  • June 18th, 2015
Epic professional bond selling is near term bullish, really

Epic professional bond selling is near term bullish, really

I ran across some fascinating research by Jason Goepfert of Sundial Capital. He observes that TLT -- the popular bond ETF that tracks Treasurys with maturities of 20 years and longer -- has seen epic outflows of late.The bottom chart above shows the fund flows for TLT over the past 100 days, and it has dropped to a new record low of -$1.3b billion....

  • June 18th, 2015
8 reasons to worry about the Chinese military build-up in the South China Sea

8 reasons to worry about the Chinese military build-up in the South China Sea

One of the astonishing things about the development of China as a superpower is its dependence on energy imports. Despite having an incredibly large land mass and long shoreline, it has been graced by very few reserves of crude oil or natural gas. This is one reason it is the leader in developing solar energy.However China is also finally trying to...

  • June 18th, 2015
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This is what the rise of robots really means

What worries me the most about the current economy is not corporate masters keeping entry-level workers down overtly but simply the trend toward robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning replacing the good old flesh and blood human.This is not a faraway idea anymore; I think we will look back in ten years and conclude it was happening at...

  • June 18th, 2015