Wild week prompts a look at key indicators
In a tumultuous week for equities, the Dow swung 1,000 points or more - twice within three days. The Dow lost nearly 1,000 points (more than 3%) on Thursday, and added even more sharp declines on Friday, tanking more than 750 points. The S&P and the Nasdaq...
Will Corona virus take us into bear market territory?
U.S. stocks entered a market correction — defined as a 10% drop from a recent peak — on Thursday this week as fears around the global spread of Corona virus rocked financial markets. For the S&P 500, the drop into a correction from an all-time high in just six...
Looking for correlation between GDP growth and S&P 500 returns
From May 2009 through January 2020, the S&P 500 climbed at a 15.1% annualized rate. In contrast, U.S. GDP averaged only about 2% in the last decade. Popular notion is that equities can only keep appreciating at 15-20% a year while GDP grows at 2-3% annually for so...
Warren Buffett had his worst year in 20 years in 2019 – Can you believe it?
Berkshire Hathaway stock gained only 10.9% in 2019, 20.6 percentage points lower than the S&P 500’s total return. Berkshire’s annual shareholder letter is expected to be released on Feb 22 and is usually a must read for every investor. But, this year, Warren...
Virus Outbreak – Sit tight (with a mask) or Bail?
The coronavirus has spread rapidly since emerging in Wuhan in December. So far its spread outside China has been limited, but appears to be spreading with new cases being reported every day. Investors have reacted fast - selling off equities with China ETFs down...
Are stocks overbought? Fear not, the Fed has your back.
As markets continue to rally, questions are arising if today’s stock market is akin to the stock market rise in 1999. There are, of course, quite a few differences. In 1999, there were no earnings, only clicks — it was a widely followed metric — the more dot-com...
Is “monster” trade deal with China for real?
The Trump administration’s “monster” trade deal with China helped drive global stocks to records and push currency volatility to all time lows. But the accord excludes $50 billion of U.S. exports and there are doubts China can buy the extra $95 billion in commodities....
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,...