So Far, September Is Living Up To Its Reputation
We are about halfway through what has historically been the roughest month of the year for the stock market, and so far, September is living up to its reputation with the S&P 500 off about 1.4% month to date, more than two times the average…
The US Debt Downgrade 10 Years On
There has been much written in the financial press the past few weeks about the just-passed 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon taking the US off the gold standard. While that was for certain a momentous event in the financial history of our country, it…
Friday The 13th Comes and Goes
With Friday the 13th just having come and gone, now seems an appropriate time to take stock of those issues that worry many investors. First, there is the Delta variant of COVID-19, and the worry it will lead to the US economy being locked down….
The Month Of May Gets A Bad Rap
One of the more interesting and entertaining aspects of investing is the myriad of adages which, as you would expect with adages, express a general truth about the markets. Consider, “Don’t Fight the Fed” – when the Fed wants to support or restrain risk assets,…
“No Jules, It’s High-Yield Bonds”
There are two ways one can hope to understand the 1980s – you lived through that momentous decade, or you’ve seen the 1998 Adam Sandler classic “The Wedding Singer.” Trust us, Mr. Sandler got the decade more right than wrong: the clothes, the hair, the…
In a big November, small caps come up REALLY BIG
As we take pen to paper for this Weekly Wire we have one trading day left in November, and what a November it has been for our country, our economy, and our stock market: We saw our way through the most contested and divisive Presidential…
What the election means for the market
Equities have rallied, the economy is recovering, and we are learning to live with COVID-19, all of which is good news. However, this means the presidential election can now command the media’s—and the market’s—full attention. Politics are already top of mind among investors who work…
Sometimes, it’s all about expectations
Sometimes in life it’s not so much what you do, it’s what you do relative to what the world expects of you, like Lloyd Christmas in Dumb & Dumber, totally redeeming himself in the eyes of Harry Dunne when he trades their van “straight up,…
What small caps might be telling us about the economy and the market
For a big country, we sure have an affinity for little things. Think TV shows: “Tiny House Nation”; sayings: “Big things come in small packages”; and children’s books: “The Little Engine That Could” as being among the more obvious examples of our love of things…
Continuing concerns regarding COVID-19
The global equity markets have continued their decline, which began on February 20, in response to fears over the COVID-19 (coronavirus) becoming a global pandemic. The S&P 500 Index fell -12.0% from February 20-27 and is on pace for another decline on February 28. International…