The year 2017 confirmed how difficult it is to project the course of financial markets. Any number of highly worrisome events characterized the year, yet financial markets: stock, bond, international, commodities and yes, Bitcoin seemed nearly impervious to bad news. The widely followed Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose from about 19,700 to 24,700, its […]
“ October 9, 2007: U.S. Equities reach all all-time high as housing slumps”
This could have been the headline. With hindsight, we know that over the following 18 months the U.S. and world economies entered one of the most perilous episodes in economic history. A liquidity crisis engulfed major money center banks, well known insurance giants […]
The charts in this article, summarizing major world equity market performance, are instructive. Each has a vertical bar chart showing the range between high and low of the past 52 weeks. Virtually all markets, USA, Japan, China and European are near their 52 week highs. It has been a decade since all important world economies were expanding simultaneously. This bodes well for the future, and it is unlikely that this momentum will suddenly reverse. READ ARTICLE
Capitalism is a wonderful system for efficiently allocating resources. It harnesses the power of individual profit incentive (AKA “greed”) to benefit society overall. However, when government fails to insure a level playing field for capitalist investors, confidence can quickly disappear, and the system can actually collapse. I urge you to read the article below and to contact your Congressional representatives to support much greater scrutiny of Congressional aides’ investing activity. 09-25-2017, From POLITICO, “Congressional aides risk conflicts with stock trades” by Maggie Severns. READ THE ARTICLE
On Sept. 28, 2016, three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the Justice Department suggesting that the drug company Mylan was violating Medicaid laws. Nine days later, the Justice Department reached a massive $465 million settlement with the firm.READ THE ARTICLE
09-19-2017, From Bloomberg, “Lobbyists on Edge Awaiting Details of Trump Tax Overhaul Plan” by Ben Brody. READ THE ARTICLE
The National Association of Home Builders has already created ads to either support or oppose a U.S. tax-code overhaul, depending on how Congress and President Donald Trump propose to treat its favorite tax breaks.
“We’re at […]
07-04-2017, From The New York Times, “When Brokers Want to Move Your Money Out of a Very Good Thing” by Ron Lieber. READ THE ARTICLE
So far this year, here’s what our friends in the federal government have done for — and to — citizens who hope to find simple ways to save […]
Comparing the first half of 2017 with that of 2016, the improvement is remarkable. Between January 1, 2016 and June 30, U.S. equities had their worst correction in at least four years, only to regain footing and limp to the June 30, 2016 finish line with a 1% return, virtually all of it dividend income. […]
All recessions begin when consumers take on too much debt and businesses extend too much credit. Borrowing money to buy a car is a doubly negative experience: the consumer goes “on margin” to own an asset guaranteed to lose value. Long after the joyful smell of new leather has faded, the payments will continue, continue, […]
Reduction/sale of Apple Inc. June 13, 2017
We have reduced and, in a few cases, eliminated your holdings of Apple Inc. (AAPL). This decision was driven by a sense that the Company may be reaching a transition in which its constituency of stakeholders changes from growth investors to more traditional dividend investors, the type of people […]
Momentum for both stocks and bonds has carried into the second quarter, until today, as the market at last appears to have succumbed to an endless stream of turmoil pouring out of Washington DC. Even with today’s 300 point decline there is underlying strength in the US and global economy that has propelled stocks upward. […]
