(New York)

How about some high growth and low risk stocks for your portfolio? Sounds too good to be true, but Barron’s has run a piece today highlighting the top picks of a midcap fund manager who is aiming for that profile. The idea of the Touchstone Mid Cap Growth Fund (TEGAX) is to find good growth at a reasonable price. The fund has returned 13.6% per year over the last five years. Their top holdings include: Worldpay, Pioneer Natural Resources, FleetCor Technologies, TransUnion, Tiffany, and Cooper.

FINSUM: These are some very diverse picks. Examining the fund’s methodology, we like their approach and suspect these stocks are worth a look.

(New York)

The US commercial and residential real estate markets have been headed in opposite directions for a little while now, with the former looking weak and the latter looking strong. However, new data suggests that US residential real estate now looks headed for its worst downturn in years. The market is suffering from heavy prices and rising rates, which are constraining buyers. Those realities are now starting to play out in the data, as the latest US market info shows that existing home sales dropped in June (for the third straight month), new home purchases are at their slowest pace in eight months, and inventory is finally starting to increase. Annual price gains in May were also their slowest in almost a year and a half.

FINSUM: It is still early days to predict a big downturn, but these three data points are a big warning sign. We are especially paying attention to rising inventory, as really tight supply has been the hallmark of the market for at least five years.

(New York)

Emerging markets have been on a wild ride this year, with many entering into bear markets. But what about EM debt? That market has faced headwinds as the US Dollar is strengthening on the back of expectations for higher rates. However, some bond fund managers really like EM debt right now. While USD denominated debt from countries like Argentina get a lot of the attention, local currency EM debt can be very rewarding. In Brazil and Mexico, for instance, local currency bonds are yielding 10% and 7%, respectively. Other countries with solid local currency debt are South Africa, India, and Indonesia.

FINSUM: So there seem to be two big risks here. One is the exchange rate risk, and the other is credit risk. That said, these yields do seem to be rewarding, and worthwhile if they are a small part of a portfolio.

(Detroit)

An absolute nightmare befell the auto sector yesterday. While the market has been increasingly concerned about the effect of Trump’s metal tariffs and the counter-tariffs from trading partners, yesterday’s meltdown was sparked by poor earnings. It started with GM and Fiat Chrysler, both of whom got walloped on weaker than expected earnings. Then Ford came in with an $11 bn restructuring plan that seemed to contradict the promised $25 bn of cuts it had previously announced. What was odd about the numbers is that they come when the economy is doing quite well. “To have a quarter like this is striking … Every time they turn over a rock, they find more problems”, says one auto market analyst.

FINSUM: Between looming tariffs and weak underlying sales, car companies seemed to be facing a definite reversal of fortunes after several years of good performance.

(New York)

Alongside rising rates and yields, accelerating dividends are a nice feature to have right now. The S&P 500’s dividend growth over the last five years has averaged 13.4%. However, every stock on this list has seen growth north of 20%. The five stocks, which come from quite varied sectors, includes UnitedHealth Group, AO Smith, Zoetis, Mastercard, and Nvidia.

FINSUM: The only catch for this group is that dividend yields, on average, are low, with UnitedHealth Group having the highest at 1.4%, well behind the average S&P 500 yield. The advantage, however, is that a stock with strongly rising dividends is more likely to see capital appreciation.