Like the churn of the ocean before a storm, and the subsequent tranquility after the worst is over, there is a good lesson for investors: those who do not panic amid the clouds of confusion are often rewarded with sunnier skies.
Read More
On March 23, 2020, stocks plummeted to the pandemic bear market bottom. The month of March was agonizing as investors endured a gut-wrenching sell-off.
Read More
The Federal Reserve announced emergency actions to guard against the coming economic impact of Coronavirus.
Read More
Was the fourth quarter of 2018 just a bad dream for investors? It sure looks like it now. With just two trading sessions left in the month, the S&P 500 is on track to close out the first four months of the year with its best results in 32 years (1987), has rallied more than 20 percent from the December lows, and has also bested its previous all-time high!
Read More
Investors have rediscovered market volatility. After a relatively placid three months, when stocks did not move more than one percent in either direction, the October sell off has reminded everyone why investing remains a dangerous activity.
Read More
It used to be that the last couple of weeks in August were slow ones for investors. Well, not this year. Neither the double whammy of Michael Cohen’s pleading guilty and Paul Manafort’s conviction, nor the escalating economic problems in emerging markets (Venezuela and Turkey) could keep stock market indexes from reaching new highs.
Read More
What happened to the tax cut bump to economic growth? After expanding by a brisk 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and the 3.3 percent rate in the third quarter, the economy decelerated a bit in the first quarter to an annualized pace of 2.3 percent, consistent with good, not great growth.
Read More
I have a confession: I’m rooting for a recession -- and a bear market. Of course I don’t want people to suffer, but the longer both the expansion and bull market continue, the more we tend to forget that they can actually end, leading some to make poor financial decisions.
Read More
What better way to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the bull market than with a strong employment report? The economy created a better than expected 313,000 new jobs in February, higher than the anticipated 200,000. The strength was seen across a variety of sectors: retail increased by 50,300, construction was up 61,000, manufacturing added 31,000 jobs and professional & business services employment added 50,000.
Read More