Germany The Only Growing Part of Europe

Back on my articles on seeking alpha (I've moved from there back here) I have been pointing out Germany's growth potential and potential to profit holding EWG. I've been writing about this since at least the beginning of the year. EWG is up 21.9% ytd vs spy +12.4.

WSJ today(video here) has a piece entitled  Germany is the Big Engine that Can't the title is a bit misleading since the core of the  text in  is that Germany's export machine will continue to outperform .

End of the Ride for Long term Corporate Bonds

I have warned over at Seeking Alpha (I no longer contribute there) of the dangers of long term corporate bonds. When the corporate CFOs are churning out long term paper and individual investors are piling in in search of yield, it's not hard to figure out who is on the wrong side of the trade.

With the yield curve steeping investors in long term coporate bonds have pretty much wiped out thier yield for 2012 in capital losses.2.2% loss in the last week... on an annualized basis I wouldnt even venture to calculate the loss. VCLT the vanguard long term corporate bond fund is now -.8% in total return ytd. Individual investors have been selling stocks and rushing into bonds since last year. Doubtless the 4%+ yield on this ETF lead to significant investment inflows.