The dollar has been on a roll over the past month. It has advanced 7.3% against the euro and is showing record strength against many other foreign currencies. This gain against the euro is the most since the euro first began circulation. At first glance, it would seem we are finally turning the US economy around. However, the fact of the matter is that the economies of other countries are starting to falter. Germany reported a decrease in business confidence in August which setoff a global earthquake for currency.
The strength of the dollar against the euro will depend on the European Central Bank. If they cut interest rates, then the euro will continue to weaken against the dollar. Technical analysis experts believe the dollar has hit a double top. I’m not a fan of technical analysis, but apparently when a security hits two successive peaks this indicates it is ready to pull back. Time will tell. The bad news about the strength of the dollar is that the US goods become more expensive and it becomes more expensive for travelers to come here. The strength or weakness of the dollar is always a two-edged sword.
The Thoroughbred Folio remained rather flat over the last week. The economy continues to point to the financial crisis as the source of our ills. There were no dividends over the past week. I did read an article about our favorite loser, Regions Financial. Regions is set to make money again this quarter. The knock on Regions is that people believe they could run into problems with commercial loans. I still don’t understand the rational of punishing a company that still makes money while many of its peers have had massive losses.
There was one change at the top as Family Dollar muscled Anheuser-Busch out of the third spot. Wrigley is holding a solid second place. Rohm and Haas leads the pack with no sign of slowing down.
Our old friend, Regions Financial, continues to drag on the Folio. Gannett took over the second spot for the losers breaking the 50% loss barrier. KeyCorp is not far behind at 48%. It will be very interesting to see the variability in the Thoroughbred Folio as the years go on. I imagine that this year is an anomaly for this kind of index. Normally we probably would see these kinds of gains or declines in individual issues of the Dividend Aristocrats.
Thoroughbred Performance (Week 36 of 52): $-257.18 (-8.57%) Dividends To Date: $60.97
Top 3 Stocks
- Rohm and Haas $28.64 (38.19%)
- WM Wrigley $24.50 (32.66%)
- Family Dollar $22.73 (30.31%)
Bottom 3 Stocks
- Regions Financial $-46.67 (-62.23%)
- Gannett $-37.76 (-50.35%)
- KeyCorp $-35.91 (-47.88%)
Stocks used in this post:
- (BUD: 0.00, N/A, Yield: N/A%)
- (FDO: 25.07, 0.00%, Yield: 1.95%)
- (GCI: 6.09, 0.00%, Yield: 26.27%)
- (KEY: 6.91, 0.00%, Yield: 18.86%)
- (RF: 7.66, 0.00%, Yield: 16.19%)
- (ROH: 71.25, 0.00%, Yield: 2.25%)
- (WWY: 0.00, N/A, Yield: N/A%)
Recent Comments