I just got a call from one of my clients, “Hey, can you believe it? The stock market is up again today!” Yes, I can believe it and I’m excited about it. All too often over the last eight years, the market has gone up on horrible
Read more →The London Financial Times defines a melt-up as a “dramatic and unexpected rise” in an asset class driven, as least in part, by a stampede of investors anxious not to miss out on the next move higher”, rather than an improvement in fundamentals. “Gains caused by melt-ups
Read more →Sky-high stock valuations are a concern for everyone owning stock in today’s market. But how high is too high. The above chart gives one an excellent perspective of what high stock valuation means for the average investor. It depicts how many hours the average worker must work
Read more →Geo-political tensions between North Korea and the US were the main cause of stocks finishing in the red last week. The Dow had its worst weekly loss for the year down 1.1% while the S&P 500 had its second worst drop, down 1.4%. The VIX, or the
Read more →The stock market has recorded another new all-time high. Volatility as represented by the VIX, is in the single digits and unemployment is at 2001 levels. As an investor, it tends to make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Before we get too complacent let’s consider the
Read more →An interesting adjustment in yield curves may be foretelling the next big move for the stock market. Short term rates are controlled by the Fed. For eight years the Democratic appointed Janet Yellen and the Fed Board have kept interest rates at crises levels of .25 %,
Read more →In the fall of 1970 I was fresh out of college. Because I had worked as a “runner”, carrying orders from the phone clerks to the brokers in the “pits”, I had developed enough connections to get a job as a commodity broker. I was thrilled when
Read more →Of course, it may be different this time but let’s get some perspective. Many sophisticated investors know that equity valuations are high. But, just how high are they and what does that really mean to investors buying stocks right now? First, let’s imagine we are interested in
Read more →Investors, both retail and institutional, have portfolio diversification wrong and it could have disastrous results. With the best of intentions, today’s investor is mindfully building portfolios on the premise that diversifying capital across multiple asset classes will strengthen and shield it during adverse market conditions. It is
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