What Normal Could Look Like
The economy of the future will feature more consumer savings, and business balance sheet repair (more cash, more cost, lower profits, and deferred capital expenditures). After an initial spike up likely starting in June and continuing into Q3, growth will be difficult. Unemployment, after spiking to the mid-20% range, will come down slowly, remaining in […]
On Gazing Into The Abyss
The six large cap stocks (FB, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, NFLX, and MSFT), which now compose 22% of the S&P 500 (vs. 10% five years ago) are, amazingly, up about 4% YTD as of Friday April 17. The S&P 500, itself, closed Friday, down only -11% YTD (and only -15% below its all-time peak), even in the […]
The Potential Economic Impact Of The Reaction To The Coronavirus
Will You Catch Coronavirus? There is a minuscule chance of contracting the coronavirus if you live anywhere but in Hubei Province in China, and even less of a chance if you live in the U.S. The last time we had something like this (SARS), the public and business reaction wasn’t as extreme. It appears that social media […]
Fed Drives S&P 500 To Record Levels, Economic Fundamentals Still Soft
Holiday sales look flat. While online sales were up, sales at traditional retailers were lackluster. Penney’s, Kohl’s, L Brands, Macy’s, Urban Outfitters, Bed Bath & Beyond, all reported lower sales vs. a year ago. Meanwhile, in what looks to be a “frugality” or “trade down” movement on the part of the consumer, same store sales at Walmart, Costco, […]
December’s Petulant Children: Trump, the Fed, Markets
Surely, this was a December to remember, but due to financial pain, not joy. Prior to December, markets were uneasy, and this showed up in a downward pricing bias and significantly increased volatility. As measured by the intraday swings on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) between high and low [(high-low)/prior close], volatility more than […]
“Pause” Gave the Market Temporary Hope But Hope is not a Good Investment Strategy
The Dow Jones Average rose 618 points on November 28th as the market interpreted Fed Chair Powell’s speech as dovish and has assumed that the Fed will “pause” in its stated rate hiking plan. Then, on December 3rd, the Dow rose another 288 points, interpreting the 90 day “cease fire trade pause” between the U.S. […]