Thoughts {06.24.15}

Good Morning.  Stocks have opened mixed.  A bit of profit taking after a nearly 2% upward move in stocks seems to be the most likely reason for todays choppiness.  News that there's no deal yet in Greece is probably not helping.  We're also getting close to the end of the month which is also the end of the quarter and will mark the half-way point to the year.  As such, don't be surprised if we see a bit of shenanigans around pricing in the next few days.  As always, Wall Street wants to get paid so there's that added incentive to try and prop prices higher into month's end.

Speaking of month's end, many ETFs go ex-dividend this week.  Some strange moves lower in price, especially among the higher income paying funds, are likely to occur.  Stocks and ETFs usually drop by the amount of the declared dividend once it is announced.  A fund for example that's paying 25 cents in dividends can expect to see its price decline by the same amount all things equal on its ex-dividend date.

Seems there's still no deal in Greece and one of the sticking points is cutting pensions.  The Greeks Government doesn't want to change the system much, nor do their citizens.  Then again a civil servant in Greece with something like 35 years of service can retire and receive a pension.  That means there's a lot of Greeks that can retire in their mid to late 50s vs mid to late 60's in most of the rest of the developed world.  It's not that Greece's pensions are particularly generous, its that they are currently unsustainable.  See here on that analysis.    Understandably, the rest of the EU is reluctant to lend Greece more money without more reforms and changes to the pension system.  Positions seem to have hardened on this and I'm surprised there's not more chatter about it in the financial media this am.

Since we're talking pensions and work, go read "Why Some Countries Work Less" over at Bloombergview.com.  Here's the executive summary regarding the work/leisure relationship from the article's first paragraph:  "The most common explanations have to do with labor regulations and taxes, but anyone who travels frequently will notice that work and leisure are valued differently in different places."

Back tomorrow.