And the good news keeps rolling in…
Two Federal Reserve officials said, Thursday this week, that the economy was likely to avoid a severe downturn because of timely intervention by the central bank last year. One of them said there is a “reasonable chance” of achieving a soft landing for the U.S....
What awaits us in 2020?
2019 was a strong year for U.S. equity markets, and that strength is compelling investors to wonder whether this powerful ascent will translate into a down market in 2020. However, if statistics over the past 70 years hold true, this year is likely to produce healthy,...
2019 Stock Market Recap
After a turbulent 4th quarter of 2018, the stock market reversed course in January, with most leading indexes posting solid gains. Despite some growing economic concerns, the U.S. stock market continued to rebound in February. By the end of Q1, lackluster US...
An unfortunate new twist to the ETF industry
ETFs have taken over the investment world and are quickly putting mutual funds out of business. Their low fees and active trading during market hours characteristics make them more attractive than mutual funds. But, by far, their most important attribute is their...
Macro hedge funds join other hedge funds in the dog house
Last week, Louis Bacon, an investor who made a 30 year career of making over 20% gains annually based on “macro” investing by placing big wagers on variety of global indicators, called it a day and is closing down his funds at Moore Capital Management. The reason -...
Schwab to buy TD Ameritrade to get out of hole it dug itself
Just a month after Charles Schwab announced that it was cutting online stock trading commissions to zero, it announced this week - its intent to acquire rival TD Ameritrade for $26 billion. If the deal to merge the country’s two largest discount brokerages goes...
Questioning the yield curve. Is it wise?
This week, stocks hit all-time highs and continued to climb. Yields are also rising and corporate bond spreads point to investors being more confident with the current economic conditions. The yield curve, whose inversion set off alarms about the risk of a recession,...
Sneaker lunacy takes over China
Forget stocks, real estate, even cryptocurrencies -- China's hottest investment nowadays is Nike, Adidas, and Puma basketball shoes. Imitating a trend that harkens back to the Tulip mania in Europe in the 1600s, trading volumes on online "sneaker exchange" platforms...
Hong Kong crashes, Venezuela in tatters – US market hits all time highs
Hong Kong’s economy contracted sharply in the third quarter as it entered a recession. Third-quarter gross domestic product retreated 3.2% from the previous three months, after a 0.4% contraction in the second quarter. Two consecutive periods of negative growth mean...