Mick Weinstein The Week's Best Stock Blogs

Thursday's sharp sell-off sent the main indexes back down to yearly lows, with the S&P 500 now shedding over 11 percent of its value in 2008. As if that news weren't bad enough, Friday morning's job numbers were bleaker than expected -- non-farm payrolls had the worst monthly decline since March 2003.

Payroll Pain

The payrolls report came in at 63,000 lost jobs in February, which is significantly worse than economists' expectations and the second consecutive month of employment declines. Bespoke Investment Group notes that since 1960, every-back-to-back reading of a negative jobs number has coincided with a recession.

Forex analyst Kathy Lien believes this "seals the fate" that the Fed will cut interest rates 75 basis points at its next meeting: "Looking ahead, I expect further dollar weakness as the weak labor market will force the Fed to bring rates down to as low as 1.5 percent."

Rush to Safety

Looking for something safe in this market? Join the crowd, which is rushing out of stocks and much corporate debt and buying up government bonds so rapidly that yields have fallen dramatically in the past few weeks. If you purchased a two-year U.S. Treasury note as of Thursday's close, you'll receive just 1.53 percent yearly interest, which is well below inflation rates -- so you'll effectively lose spending power on that investment.

Lock up your money for a decade-long government note and you'll gain only another couple of points -- 3.6 percent. Is under the old Sealy looking more attractive to anyone? As Abnormal Returns observes, "the econoblogosphere continues to be a healthy and vibrant place. Even if the markets they cover are not." So on to the bloggers:

• The Wall Street Journal's David Gaffen notes that short-term rates haven't been this low since 2003. Gaffen doesn't see this as a "bubble" in government debt, as some claim, but rather a broad flight to safety that's included even those whose risk profile wouldn't ordinarily put them in line to buy Treasuries.

• Given this unusual debt-market dynamic, bond expert David Merkel sees opportunity for investors in two areas: municipal bonds and the bonds of government-sponsored mortgage agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Regarding the latter, Merkel says, "Ask yourself this: In this environment, would the U.S. government step away from the mortgage agencies? I think not. If anything, they might invest in its subordinated debt, particularly if there were a conversion into common stock feature." 

• With this troubled backdrop in the equities and bond markets and this morning's jobs report, Lance Lewis at Minyanville believes another emergency Fed action to lower rates is "a distinct possibility" as an attempt to fire up the economy. "The Fed has made it pretty clear that it is going to continue to ease in a 'timely' manner and defend 'the system' regardless of inflationary pressures," Lewis says. 

Buffett Letter Makes Waves

In other, less depressing events, Warren Buffett -- who was just named Earth's richest man by Forbes -- released his firm Berkshire Hathaway's annual letter to investors on Friday. The document is a must-read not only for Berkshire investors, but for anyone who appreciates the Oracle from Omaha's refreshingly clear, succinct, and witty commentary on both his businesses and the market at large. Insightful responses to the letter from market bloggers:

• Kevin Price of Interlake Capital Management notes Buffett's skepticism whether pension plans' assumptions of 8 percent annual returns from the stock market are plausible: "For people in the accumulation phase of their investing lives, this [likelihood of meager market returns] should be entirely welcome. For those in the preservation or distribution phases, on the other hand, it raises serious and very difficult questions about the meaning of risk and the utility of various money management strategies and products."

• Todd Kenyon notes that when Buffett says in this year's letter that "the party is over" for insurance companies' fat profits on premiums, Buffett is simply "predicting that the frequency of catastrophes will revert to the mean. Cycles are a fact of life in the insurance business. Again, this is why you want able managers at the helm. If underwriting standards are allowed to slip, disaster will ensue when the cycle turns down."

• Berkshire's investment in See's Candy, a company that earns huge returns on little capital investment, was one focus of this year's letter. Andy Kern draws a lesson for all investors in individual stocks: "Why not skip over these businesses whose hurdle is so high that only the most outstanding performance will yield the investor a decent return? That is what Berkshire has done over the years."

Two New India ETFs Hit U.S. Market

Now for some potentially good news. Two long-awaited India ETFs hit the U.S. market in the past week: WisdomTree India Earnings ETF (EPI) and PowerShares India Portfolio (PIN). With the U.S. economy sputtering, more American investors are buying global ETFs to capture growth in a diversified yet targeted manner. India's been a hotspot, so these new funds are sure to attract interest.

• Heather Bell of IndexUniverse has a terrific overview of the two funds, which have significant differences that investors should understand well before considering a purchase

• Geoffrey Lordi takes a closer look at the fundamentally weighted WisdomTree fund and provides a helpful breakdown. Lordi finds that investors who are interested in low correlation to the broadly tracked MSCI Emerging Markets Index will find only "lukewarm enchantment" from EPI.

• Tom Lydon believes there's "huge demand for an India ETF. For a time, there was the iPath MSCI India Index (INP) that investors could use to get exposure. But once India changed its foreign investing rules, that exchange traded note (ETN) was pretty much down for the count, as no new shares were being issued."

• India is a "relatively complicated investment destination," adds portfolio manager Roger Nusbaum. If investors do consider the new WisdomTree product, they need to factor in the energy- and materials-weighting of the fund: "Weakness in energy stocks will probably hurt the fund, and I doubt a rebalance would bail the fund out, because energy prices could probably come down a fair bit and still keep the sector on top of the Indian earnings heap."