A top-tier financial web site interviews me at the start of every year. The interviewer typically asks me about specific securities, asset allocation, economic backdrop as well as the impact of events (e.g., central bank monetary policy, mid-term elections, tax reform, etc.) This year, at the tail end of the interview, I fielded an atypical query. He wanted to know what “market surprise” might occur in 2018 (good or bad) that the financial media are not talking about. I thought…
The U.S. stock market has rarely notched 150 trading days without back-to-back 0.5%-plus declines. It happened on one occasion prior to the financial crisis in 2007. It also occurred once in the mid-1990s and twice in the 1960s. More recently, the S&P 500 logged an additional streak for consecutive trading sessions. This time, however, 150 days did not serve as the high-water mark. Nor was it 200 or 250 days. The new record streak that culminated on January 30, 2018? Try…
I have quite a few clients in their eighties and a number in their late eighties. That is not particularly surprising when your client base is chock-full of retirees and near retirees. What did surprise me a bit is a call from an 87-year old client yesterday afternoon. She called to inquire why her friends are making more money in the stock market than she has been making recently. “Are most of your friends in their 40s or 50s?” I…
Stock market bearishness is practically extinct. You would have to travel back in time to 1987 to find a greater level of disparity between investment adviser bulls (64.4%) and bears (13.3%). The mainstream media continue to fuel the enthusiasm for equities by touting desirable tailwinds, including tax cut-led economic growth, low inflation and full employment. Indeed, these conditions are favorable for the time being. What the mainstream media are missing, however, is the nature of asset bubbles themselves. Specifically, asset…
Richard Russell, an exceptionally well-regarded Dow Theorist, explained that a stock market can do absolutely anything over short periods of time. Yet, over longer periods, the greatest certainty is “regression to the mean.” “Regression to the mean” refers to the inevitability of prices revisiting a long-term trend. For example, near the beginning of the Roaring ’20s, stock prices sat nearly 60% below their long-term historical trend. As the Roaring ’20s rolled along, demand for equities outstripped supply to such an extent,…
Over the last decade, the most influential central banks around the world have printed electronic currency credits to acquire $14 trillion in assets. The effect on stocks, bonds and real estate? Remarkable price gains as well as records galore. On the other hand, quantitative easing (QE) activity by the U.S. Federal Reserve, People’s Bank of China, European Central Bank and others has created a variety of implausible circumstances. The Swiss National Bank has become one of the largest shareholders in…
Scores of extremely bullish investors insist that the financial markets today do not resemble the technology stock craze near the tail end of the late 1990s. That position is getting more difficult to defend. For example, market capitalization to GDP is a long-term stock valuation indicator with a high correlation (0.89) to subsequent 10-year returns. The valuation tool is frequently referred to as the “Warren Buffett Indicator.” The reason? In 2001, the Oracle of Omaha dubbed it as “…the best single measure of…
Since the Great Recession, each time that the U.S. economy bogged down, the U.S. Federal Reserve began printing additional electronic dollar credits to acquire billions in assets (a.k.a. “quantitative easing” or “QE”). And the efforts were primarily responsible for pushing interest rates lower, as well as stock and real estate prices higher. Take a look at the blue line in the chart below. It represents the electronic money printing activity of central banks across the world. Not only did stocks surge ahead…
When I co-hosted a national talk radio show in 2000, tech stock inquiries came furious and fast. JDSU or Sun Micro? Powerwave or Cisco? Webvan or theGlobe.com? Few expressed concern about a recession. Few wondered if they might lose money by investing in the New Economy’s Internet favorites. Even fewer callers believed that they might want to take less risk rather than more. Granted, tech stocks may not be as wildly overvalued as they were in 2000. That said, the U.S….
I readily acknowledge that I know precious little about the world of art. In fact, I would struggle to distinguish Picasso from Velazquez, Van Gogh from Monet, or DaVinci from Rembrandt. On the other hand, my brain has retained a bit of knowledge about several artists for one reason or another. Not only did I see the 2002 movie on the life of Frida Kahlo, but I attended a Kahlo exhibit in New York. Similarly, whenever I gaze upon a…
