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Author:

Paul Schatz, President, Heritage Capital

And Here We Go Again – Nvidia Set To Report

We have lots of news floating around from Fed Governor Lisa Cook being fired for mortgage fraud to the government taking an equity stake in Intel to Nvidia reporting earnings after the bell today. Let’s look at Nvidia, the largest company in the stock market, well ahead of Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. Nvidia has had quite a run since the April bottom. From the mid-$80s to $182, that an eye-popping return. I usually prefer highflying stocks to show weakness into […]   Read More
Date: August 27, 2025

Powell Pivoted & Small Caps Loved it

Jay Powell blinked, finally. Powell and the FOMC have been dead wrong according to my work. They were wrong to wait to hike rates and they are wrong in waiting to cut them. Frankly, I always prefer to be a little early than late and forced to play catch up. The markets don’t like and the economy certainly doesn’t like that. On Friday in what was Jay Powell’s likely last speech from the Jackson Hole symposium, he opened the door […]   Read More
Date: August 25, 2025

4 Ways a Fee-Only Advisor in New Haven Can Help Build Wealth

You’ve spent years accumulating personal wealth so that you may have over $1 million in retirement and non-retirement savings today. After four decades of work, your retirement date is finally getting close. Maybe it’s two years away. Maybe five. Either way, you’re starting to think seriously about how your different sources of retirement income will support you when the paychecks stop. Then, without much warning, the stock market suddenly plunges steeply. Who knows how long the decline will last or […]   Read More
Date: August 25, 2025

Powell To Pivot – Markets Poised For More Upside

Fed Chair Jay Powell’s last Jackson Hole speech is here. It’s the only big news event of the week. Markets are expecting a more dovish Powell and an interest rate cut in September. While I do not think Powell will turn fully dovish, I do think he will give the market some of what it wants. With the last inflation report hotter than expected it would be crazy for Powell to ignore it. He also can’t ignore the weakening employment […]   Read More
Date: August 22, 2025

Berkshire Looking Better – NASDAQ 100 Dipping To Buy

Following up on my Berkshire Hathaway comments from Monday’s post, below are weekly charts of the stock followed by it’s performance versus the S&P 500. Recall that there has been lots of chatter about Buffet’s retirement and the stock no longer being an outperformer. In absolute terms below, the stocks chart looks powerful, steadily moving from the lower left to the upper right. Comparing Berkshire to the S&P 500, it’s much noisier. Overall, since 2017, BRK has kept pace to […]   Read More
Date: August 20, 2025

Volatility About To Spike With Fed Meeting?

Although it’s August with the markets in full summer doldrum mode, the Fed is meeting this week in their annual Jackson Hole retreat where we should get a very clear picture about the potential for a rate cut in September. Markets are pricing in an almost certainty of this. More on Wednesday. Volatility remains depressed at the 15 level which is very typical during a mature bull market. Until proven otherwise, forays above 20 are buying opportunities for stocks. There […]   Read More
Date: August 18, 2025

Retirement Planning and the One Big Beautiful Bill

This blog post examines the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) and its potential influence on your tax and investment strategies, both currently and in the future. This information is particularly relevant if you are nearing retirement or are already retired with at least $500,000 in investable assets. As you shift from saving for retirement to taking distributions from your retirement assets, various tax liabilities come into play. Your goal should be to preserve as many assets as possible to sustain […]   Read More
Date: August 18, 2025

Inflation Soars At The Producer Level – Stocks & Bonds Don’t Crash

While inflation at the consumer level was tame in July, it soared at the producer level to numbers not seen since 2022. Pundits and the media had exaggerated initial reactions with all kinds of narratives being spun. I was suspicious. That kind of spike did not add up for me. While I have been saying that a warmer month or two was to be expected, July was hot. I also wanted to see how bad the markets reacted. With that […]   Read More
Date: August 15, 2025

Volatility Nice, Markets Solid, Inflation Tame

I guess the dog days of summer have firmly set in for the markets. It wasn’t long ago when volatility as measured by the VIX was at historic extremes above 60. It’s been in the teens for most of the summer and heading lower. VIX below 20 is a relatively easy environment to invest in when compared to the 30s, 40s, 50s and higher. However, never forget that high volatility almost always leads to lower volatility and vice versa. It’s […]   Read More
Date: August 12, 2025

Lots Of Opps Building

After the two-day reversal and pullback, stocks have bounced, getting close to the area where they should fail if they are going to fail. I still think the lows from last week will be exceeded this quarter, but like everything else, I will not die on that hill. The other day I posted a chart of stock making new 52-week lows to see how much deterioration was under the surface. Someone asked about stocks making new highs. Here it is […]   Read More
Date: August 8, 2025