Saturday, December 14, 2019
The bond market is absolutely nuts – devoid of any common sense. Back in the days when professors used chalkboards, and actually taught classes, I studied Business Economics. We learned how capital and labor come together to produce goods and services, create jobs and profits. If capital was needed, you could borrow and pay interest. […]
One of the big questions for the financial markets as we head into the next decade is where are interest rates going as we kick off a new year. On one hand, the labor market is strong and stock prices are at all-time highs. On the other hand, many other economic indicators are showing a […]
The stock market has had an excellent year for 2019, and one sector that’s been unusually hot recently has been healthcare. Over the last two months, the healthcare stocks in the S&P 500, as a whole, have nearly doubled the return of the rest of the index. That’s impressive, and while many healthcare stocks are […]
With my focus on higher yield investments, I often receive questions about various closed-end funds, often referred to as CEFs. CEFs are actively managed investment pools with shares that trade on the stock exchanges. A lot of these funds carry very attractive yields. The danger is that this is an asset class where it is […]
Just recently, there has been some unusual options activity in Exxon Mobil (XOM). The oil and gas giant has seen its stock price go higher on news of a surprise cut in oil production from Saudi Arabia. A cut in production is almost always bullish for oil companies like XOM. In response, a trader placed […]
To build momentum from your income stocks going into the new year, consider buying into those REITs that should announce higher dividend rates in the first month of 2020. Each month I publish a list of those real estate investment trusts (REITs) that should announce higher dividend rates in the upcoming months. This knowledge can […]
The stock market is showing its first signs of cracks since October, and investors are starting to wonder if December is going to be a repeat of last year. As a reminder, the S&P 500 was down about 9% a year ago in December after what had been a volatile fourth quarter. Of course, this […]
A high current yield and monthly dividends are two hot buttons for income focused investors. In the U.S. most companies pay dividends every quarter, while most of us pay our bills each month. Thus, the three dozen or so stocks that pay monthly dividends get a lot of attention. And of course, with income stocks, […]
This year will go down as another strong one for Wall Street. We had a big dip late last year, so that helped give 2019, a nice low base to start with, but outside of that it’s been a nice slow uptrend for stocks this year. While many stocks are doing well, I should remind […]
Recently, there was some significant unusual options activity in United States Steel (X). A flood caused US Steel to shut down one of its steel mills and the stock dropped 6% on the news. This is the sort of situation that typically makes for a good shorter-term options trade. A steel mill closing should cause […]
