Animal Spirits Realized after Election
Read moreAs we flip the calendar to 2017, we are looking at new opportunities and challenges. Regardless of one’s political views, the US markets are looking favorably on the election results. We have seen a rapid rise in stocks since the morning of November 9th. The sentiment that regulation will be eased to spur business development has done a great deal
Investor Temptations Near Market Tops
Read moreThe current stock market bull has lasted longer than normal, yet it continues to rise. After stock market advances, it’s tempting to move a bigger portion of our portfolios into stocks or other risky assets. What’s the best way to position our portfolios, and our mindsets, near market tops? First, we should acknowledge that even if markets are overvalued, that
Brexit and Investor Portfolios
Read moreThe recent vote by the U.K. to leave the E.U. (Brexit) stoked market fears. Stock markets fell and news headlines brought feelings of uncertainty to investors across the globe. After falling sharply for several days, markets rebounded at the end of the quarter. Despite this quick recovery, however, the ultimate outcome of the Brexit vote is still unknown. Further, this
Markets Fall and Recover in the First Quarter
Read moreStock downturns are common. Every decade over the past 100 years has produced at least one loss of nearly 20% or greater and most decades have produced multiple bear markets(1). The current decade, however, is a notable exception because we have not seen such a significant loss. And until the downturn this quarter, markets have produced few meaningful moves lower.
One of the Most Important Lessons of Investing: Declining or Lackluster Markets may be Predictive of Gains
Read moreSince 1915 the stock market has gained 10% per year (1). However, those returns aren’t provided to investors equally every year. Instead, some years deliver losses, and others provide low single digit returns. High return years, when the markets move up by 20% or more, occur infrequently but have produced 66% of stock market gains over the past 100 years
Invoking Your Inner Spock
Read moreOver the past 18 months the global stock market has moved lower by 1.4%(i). It gained in 2014, only to lose those gains and more over the past 5 months. Up, down, up, down. What is going on? Investors may look at this activity and question the validity of their investment strategy. Why can’t their investment portfolio produce a reasonable
Time Machine – What if it was 2007, and you knew what was coming?
Read moreI often fantasize about going back in time so I can replay an event more to my advantage. Like curating a response to friends that, after the fact, makes me appear brilliant. Here is an investment time machine fantasy: Imagine this: It’s 2007. You know there is a real estate bubble, and you know there will be a crash, so
The Fed’s “Contracted Experiment in Price Control (i)”
Read moreJust as investors were unable to perceive how a housing market crash would affect their investment portfolios, we believe similar, unanticipated risk exists in the stock market due to Federal Reserve asset price manipulation.