(New York)

There have been some serious warnings about real estate from reputable sources lately, but not much data to support them. To this point, most fears have been centered around how rising rates might hurt the market, but none of that had emerged in the data, until now. A new US housing report has just showed that sales of existing US homes fell 2.5% in April. Low inventory and higher prices seem to be putting a dampening effect on buyers, says the Wall Street Journal.

FINSUM: This is a worrying stat for us, and its importance is elevated by the fact that the figure comes from April, which is part of the all-important spring home-buying season. The next few months of data will be very important.

(New York)

Now might be a good time to buy dividend stocks, especially if you think rates and the economy are likely to stagnate. But even if not, having solid income stocks is always a key feature of a portfolio. With that in mind Barron’s has come up with a list of 12 income stocks with good cash flow and very solid fundamentals, all of whom are supposed to see growing cash flow in 2019. Some of the names cited include: Kraft Heinz, Target, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Eli Lilly, and Omnicom.

FINSUM: This is a diverse list from across different sectors which includes a lot of companies with strong profiles. All of the stocks have of a dividend yield of at least 2.5%.

(Washington)

Advisors all over the country are wondering about a simple question—why the SEC did not use the word “fiduciary” in its new best interest rule. The answer to the question had remained obscure until this week, when SEC chairman Clayton answered it at a conference following a question by FINRA CEO Robert Cook. Clayton said that the new rule is “definitely a fiduciary principle, just like the fiduciary duty in the investment advisor space is a fiduciary principle”, but continuing that calling standards for both brokers and advisors “fiduciary” and “then defining them would not make it clear that the relationship models were different”.

FINSUM: So basically the SEC avoided using the word so as not to muddle the difference between the relationships of brokers to clients vis-a-vis advisors to clients.

(Washington)

First it was North Korea calling the summit into question, and then this week President Trump cancelled the meeting entirely. Now, despite Trump’s cancellation, Pyongyang says it will still meet with the US. Just minutes after Trump cancelled the summit, a senior North Korean leader said “We had set in high regards President Trump's efforts, unprecedented by any other president, to create a historic North Korea-US summit … We tell the United States once more that we are open to resolving problems at any time in any way”.

FINSUM: While it might be a bluff, we take it as an encouraging sign that North Korea is so eager to meet with the US.

(New York)

Allocation funds don’t get a lot of discussion in the press, but they could be a good buy. With their broad mandate to invest in all manner of asset classes, an allocation fund can theoretically be a one-stop shop for advisors or retail investors. However, most of them have not lived up to their hype since broad allocation takes more research horsepower than the funds can afford. However, the T Rowe Price Global Allocation fund has been performing great. The fund invests in 20 different T Rowe funds across all strategies. “This fund represents our best thinking across different asset classes”, says the fund’s manager. It has beaten 92% of its category peers over the past three years.

FINSUM: Allocation funds can be a good choice if you want to merely deposit assets into a single vehicle. However, we would worry about having a great deal of one’s assets with a single manager.