Market Analysis

  • Best thing/Worst thing Market Accelerates

    Nothing gratifies investment managers or their investors like a climbing stock market. And the stock market did just that in…

  • Animal Spirits Realized after Election

    As we flip the calendar to 2017, we are looking at new opportunities and challenges. Regardless of one’s political views,…

  • Investor Temptations Near Market Tops

    The current stock market bull has lasted longer than normal, yet it continues to rise. After stock market advances, it’s…

  • Brexit and Investor Portfolios

    The recent vote by the U.K. to leave the E.U. (Brexit) stoked market fears.  Stock markets fell and news headlines…

  • Markets Fall and Recover in the First Quarter

    Stock downturns are common. Every decade over the past 100 years has produced at least one loss of nearly 20%…

  • One of the Most Important Lessons of Investing: Declining or Lackluster Markets may be Predictive of Gains

    Since 1915 the stock market has gained 10% per year (1). However, those returns aren’t provided to investors equally every…

  • Invoking Your Inner Spock

    Over the past 18 months the global stock market has moved lower by 1.4%(i). It gained in 2014, only to…

  • Time Machine – What if it was 2007, and you knew what was coming?

    I often fantasize about going back in time so I can replay an event more to my advantage. Like curating…

  • The Fed’s “Contracted Experiment in Price Control (i)”

    Just as investors were unable to perceive how a housing market crash would affect their investment portfolios, we believe similar,…

  • Driving Whilst Looking Backwards

    Want to grasp the counter-intuitive nature of investing? Try driving whilst looking to the rear (see lengthy liability disclosure below).…

  • Stock Complacency Arises as Market Risks Intensify

    Stocks and bonds were a mixed bag in the third quarter. The S&P 500 increased 1.1%(i) for the quarter while…

  • Stocks Continue Rise in the Second Quarter

    Toews began the quarter with a partial (1/3) allocation to US Stocks, with all other asset classes fully invested. We…

  • Stocks Hold Significant Risks even at Fair Value

    Investing platitudes (allocate, rebalance, repeat) about stocks betray the high risks and limited time horizons for the bulk of investors.…

  • Toews Delivers Up Capture as Tactical Suffers

    Investors remained anxious entering 2013, and there was no shortage of stress-evoking events. Despite that, the S&P 500 realized the…

  • The Most Important Characteristic of Loss Avoidance Strategies – Up-Capture

    Originally posted on October 30th, 2013It’s not a small matter. Strong return years make outsized contributions to the overall above-inflation…

  • Investors Vulnerable to Fixed Income Behavioral Biases

    Investors continue to view fixed income as the default “risk-off” slice of investors’ portfolios, even as they are faced with…

  • Markets Finish the Year Higher in the Face of Uncertainties

    “Sometimes, what matters is not so much how low the odds are that circumstances would turn negative, what matters more…

  • Risks Mount during Second Quarter as Markets Falter

    Toews portfolios began the quarter fully invested. Only a few days into the quarter, however, markets turned lower and continued…

  • Why we’re concerned

    In our last commentary we discussed two divergent opinions on the economy. The optimistic view was represented in a recent…

  • Toews Participates in First Quarter Rally – S&P up 12.6%

    The Toews System during Market Rallies After a turbulent year in 2011, the markets moved steadily higher to finish the…

  • Market Environment – Unanticipated Risks Ahead for Investors

    Over the past year, there were several shocks to the economy, including an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, a downgrade…

  • Margin Call

    In a scene from the movie Margin Call, a banker looks out of his car window and says “look at…

  • Markets Briefly Enter Bear Market in 2011 – Investor Anxiety Surges

    Sovereign debt issues have taken center stage to press stock prices down with increased ferocity. The S&P 500 declined 14%…

  • Markets End Flat for the Quarter after Renewed Volatility

    After making sizable moves higher and lower, the markets finished the quarter flat, with the S&P 500 gaining just 0.1%.…

  • Markets Advance 90.5% from 2009 Bottom

    In our April 2009 commentary letter, only weeks after the markets hit the bottom of one of the worst declines…

  • Despite Fears, Stocks Advance in 2010

    Despite an overtly timid mindset among investors, the bulls are the victors for 2010. The market advance in December capped…

  • Markets Move Higher after a Fearful Mid-Year decline

    At the end of the 2nd quarter, stocks were in a severe correction, having dropped over 15% in just over…

  • Stock Market Drops in Second Quarter

    Shortly after the market hit bottom in April of 2009, we wrote that after major declines, gains were historically “decisive…

  • Gains Continue into the Fourth Quarter

    During the most recent quarter, the S&P continued its impressive rise and advanced 6.02%. Throughout the quarter, our proprietary models…

  • Emerging Markets and our Dynamic Hedging Strategy

    Investing in emerging markets has the potential to generate high returns and also bring potential diversification benefits. Our case for…

  • Stock Market Makes Significant Gains for Quarter

    In our last commentary, we looked at the powerful nature of rebounds following large stock market drops. Our conclusion was…

  • Looking Beyond Recent Declines

    Last November when the market declined sharply, a number of managers declared that the stock market had hit the bottom.…

  • Toews Investors Gain Despite Stock Market Decline

    Since the beginning of 2008 (the past 21 months) the S&P 500 has lost 25%. Yet, despite having lived through…

  • Toews Avoids a Majority of Losses in 2008

    In our third quarter commentary when we noted that the markets were down 20% year to date, little did we…