With 10 months to go before the November election, it appears that the recent market euphoria may be beginning to fade. Expectations of a more robust pace of business activity are one thing, but there’s a considerable lag time between the talk about changes that may have a favorable impact on corporate profits and the […]
The combination of exceptional investment returns registered last year and rising heat in the geopolitical arena suggests that this year will see an increase in day-to-day price volatility. Although seasonal volatility tends to increase during late summer and early autumn, it seems likely that we’ll be seeing wide fluctuations much sooner.
These days, when we see […]
As has often been the case after the market has turned in an unusually broad advance, the gurus of Wall Street continue to build their cases for more of the same. This most certainly is a replay of a recent film entitled Dumb and Dumber.
Successful investors are best served by planning for the worst while […]
As we wind down what will soon be the old year and complete our plans for the holidays, it’s always a good idea to take stock of where we’ve been and what we have to look forward to. 2019 has been an interesting year, especially so for the financial markets, which have provided returns […]
Given the acceleration of important developments in the U.S. and abroad, it’s no wonder that investors have been girding themselves against the impact of nonstop breaking news. Although over time the stock market is primarily a reflection of changes in underlying fundamentals, day-to-day price action tends to be more of a psychological response than a […]
These days, it has become increasingly difficult to disconnect and turn aside from the nonstop barrage of news, some of which is exceedingly unpleasant. What’s more, the level of business uncertainty has risen, a happenstance that never sits well with Wall Street. That’s not a good sign for what lies ahead.
As summer arrives, folks tend […]
Not that long ago, the media often had to scratch around for developments that might hold the interest of its audience. Days and weeks would go by and from time to time we’d tune in to find out what was going on throughout this country and abroad.
That was then and this is now. Fast forward […]
Despite numerous triple-digit market moves so far this year, there’s been no substantial progress since the end of 2017. Lots of turbulence, but essentially no forward movement.
This isn’t really surprising since investors tend to react to what lies ahead, not to what’s going on at the moment. So the well above average gains registered last […]
Flat Market Ahead?
One of the truisms in investing is that periods of unusually broad gains are followed by years when more moderate increases are likely. Most of us recall less than fondly that the decade from 2000-2010 was a span when market prices went nowhere, albeit with a fair amount of volatility along the way. […]
Yes, you can. Although the gains for the S&P 500 over many decades past have averaged about 10%, that includes gains and losses in some years that are a multiple of that rate. So a target of about 10% would be reasonably achievable for a long-term investor, but the long term would mean at least […]