by Bryce

We have recently witnessed the steepest rally since the Great Depression. The market averages are up in excess of 25% in a month and continue to behave well under less than favorable news. While this is great from an investment perspective, I would just like to point out a few facts/opinions as it is easy to be caught up in all the recent optimism when in actuality things haven’t improved much. The facts below were provided by The Economist, April 11-17th 2009 edition.  (more…)

By Forrest Lowell

There is one more shoe to drop before the market can truly move higher in a convincing way. In my view this Shaquille O’Neal sized shoe is the commercial real estate market. The troubles of General Growth Properties (GGP) has been well publicized, but what about the other similarly structured companies? Just as a quick comparison I have included screen shots of General Growth’s and Simon Property Group’s balance sheets. Look at the two balance sheets and tell me which one is trading at 40 cents and which one is trading at $31.50.

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