Monday, December 10, 2018
It’s pretty safe to say that every investor has heard of General Electric (NYSE: GE). For many years, it was the largest public company in the world with upper management nearly akin to rock stars. During the company’s amazing run atop the world’s greatest companies, GE was known for innovation and stellar management. Heck, the […]
Despite all the headlines about the upcoming trade summit with China, it’s interest rate expectations that are more likely driving the financial markets. Yes, a trade war with China is bad for both countries (and the global economy) and a resolution would certainly be good news for stocks. However, from a global perspective, interest rate […]
The market is bouncing up and down like Marqeus Haynes dribbled a basketball. Are stop losses necessary? Investors are edgy. Money and Markets reports – “Alarming Survey: Record Number of Fund Managers More Bearish than 08 Crisis”. “…. Bank of America’s monthly survey…is warning investors to take caution and heed the market’s warning signs. …investors managing about $646 billion […]
Trading market volatility can very profitable because it tends to be more predictable than picking market direction. Yet, volatility trading can also be risky because of its tendency to make big moves on very short notice. Both February and October of 2018 are good examples of this scenario playing out. Still, one volatility behavior you […]
When David Galland approached me about writing an investment newsletter, I said, “I’m not a stock picker, I try to pick them out of newsletters. Sometimes I even screw that up!”. David asked me to explain. Expensive lessons In the late 1990’s I self-managed our retirement fund. The market soared; between 1995-2000 the S&P went […]
It seemed like we were in for a quiet October. The Fed made its expected rate increase and didn’t have any other surprises in its FOMC statement from September. There isn’t another FOMC meeting until November. Mid-term elections will certainly be big news but also aren’t until November. All the ingredients were there for an […]
Today I can fess up to a secret… Lou Betancourt, founder and president of Street Authority contacted me. I was flattered when someone as highly respected as Lou asked for permission to publish some of our articles. Street Authority has several subscription investment publications and a mailing list 100+ times bigger than our little publication. […]
2018 has been one of the more interesting years lately in terms of market volatility. We’ve had a chance to see both ends of the volatility spectrum – ultra-low volatility and a financial-crisis like spike in the VIX. It’s not often that both sides of the scale are in play in the same 12-month period. […]
October 2008 Bob and Ray were close friends; both retired and lived across the street from one another. One fateful morning, each took their coffee into the den, flipped on the computer and checked their brokerage account. As the data popped up, they both did a double take…. “What the heck is going on?” Overnight […]
Chuck Butler’s recent Dow Theory Letter article (behind paywall), “Central Bank Frustrations” was an eye-opener. Chuck removes any illusions about “trusting” central bankers. He quotes former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke: “Given the fundamental factors in place that should support the demand for housing, we believe the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader […]
