Weekly Market Pulse: Stop Reading the News
Stock markets the world over celebrated the end of the Iran War last week with many closing the week at all-time highs: Large cap (S&P 500, Russell 1000), Small cap (Russell 2000, S&P 600), NASDAQ, Emerging Markets, Asia ex-Japan, Latin America 40, Canada, Australia, Israel, Poland, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Singapore, Taiwan, and Brazil all closed at all-time highs (based [...]
Weekly Market Pulse: The Only Free Lunch In Investing
Stocks were up nearly 4% last week due to a ceasefire between the US and Iran that was supposed to open the Strait of Hormuz and allow oil to start flowing again. Crude oil fell 14% while the GSCI commodity index fell almost 7%. The dollar, which really hadn't rallied much during the conflict, fell 1.3%. All of this despite [...]
Weekly Market Pulse: Same As It Ever Was?
The Post-COVID Volatility When one thinks back on all that has happened since 2020, it is, I think, amazing how little the US economy has changed over that time. Obviously, the economy was volatile during the shutdown of the economy during COVID and during the period when the economy was re-opening. Real GDP fell over 7% in the second quarter [...]
Weekly Market Pulse: War. What Is It Good For?
Sentiment about the economy is negative right now, but that isn't a new development. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey is near its all-time worst reading, which was set just a few years ago in 2022. The expectations portion of that survey is currently at levels only seen in the mid-70s, near the bottom of the '73/74 bear market, [...]
Weekly Market Pulse: Questions
There's a lot going on right now and I've got way more questions than answers. Here's a few that seem important: Is this stock market correction the beginning of a bear market? Obviously, no one knows but Friday's close did mark a milestone. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite both closed below their respective 200-day moving averages. The 200-day MA [...]
Weekly Market Pulse: Are We There Yet?
How can the US re-open the Strait of Hormuz? That is the $64,000 question for investors today and the Trump administration so far doesn't have an answer beyond asking other countries for help (which they probably should have done before they started this). While Asian and European countries certainly have an incentive to get the strait open and oil flowing [...]
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