The old Wall Street adage of, “Sell in May and go away,” appears prophetic this year. However, if we had done that we would have missed the rising stock market during June. For those clients who feel that the last 18 months in the stock...
We discussed the downward turn in the market during the fourth quarter of 2018 in our first quarter 2019 newsletter. We can summarize that newsletter, as well as past and future communications, by saying that as investors we must live with and embrace volatility. Sure...
Stock market indices experienced far greater volatility during 2018 than in 2017. As of December 31, 2018, the S&P 500 had declined 20% from its September high and bounced back a little, the NASDAQ had been down as much as 23%, the Russell 2000 (small...
In his second quarter note to investors regarding his Gabelli Asset Fund, Mario Gabelli stated that during the first half of 2018 the FANGMA (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Apple) stocks accounted for 2.5 percentage points of the 2.6 percentage point return to the S&P 500....
We have discussed volatility frequently so far in 2018. The discussion and volatility will continue into the future, but we wish one of the variables lending to that volatility would dissipate. Tariff talk from around the globe has certainly increased volatility. Our preference would include no...
At this time last year we wrote to you regarding the volatility experienced in the US stock markets during 2016. We cannot say the same about 2017. Though we do not expect you to be able to read the small print, Graph 1 illustrates the gentle ride...
As the S&P 500’s bull market carries on, we tend to field more questions along the lines of, “have we reached a top?” The questions typically stem from geopolitical concerns, economic growth concerns, valuation concerns, the concern that the S&P 500 has run too far...
This quarter’s newsletter does not directly relate to investing, although it provides an interesting framework for investing and life in general. The news flow of today seems very polarizing – we would not blame you for thinking that traditional outlets like cable news providers Fox...
The United States Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) recently suggested it will target a range of 0.75%-1.00% for the Federal Funds Rate (FFR) by the end of 2017. That implies two more increases for the year. The FFR is the rate that other...