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Author:

Paul Schatz, President, Heritage Capital

Fearless Forecast 2024 – Stock Market To Tack On Another 11-15%

I had hoped to communicate my full 2024 Fearless Forecast with a grading of 2023 in one email. That’s not happening. Too much info. So I am sharing the largest portion first, my forecast for the stock market. 12 months ago, I had a lot to say. However, most people could say that about me on any given day. As 2023 began, the masses were universally aligned in the bear camp, the doomsday camp and even the Armageddon camp. Almost […]   Read More
Date: January 10, 2024

Strong Q4 > Weakness in January, But How Much?

Thank you to those who attended our quarterly webinar last night. We covered a lot and I appreciate your time. The archive will be available today and emailed to all those who signed up. My 2024 Fearless Forecast turned out to be a whole lot longer than I anticipated. I know. I know. You’re really shocked. So, I decided to release the equity market portion first and then the rest. If all goes according to plan, you can expect that […]   Read More
Date: January 8, 2024

Santa Did Not Call But Be Careful With Bears Coming to Broad & Wall – Bumpy is The Theme

Greetings from Beantown, one of my favorite cities. I have been traveling for work since 1989 with thousands of trips I guess and I have never forgotten my clothes. That is, until last yesterday. My plan was to head to Vermont from Boston and I have everything I need in Vermont. So as I am scrambling to get on the road with my UCONN napsack, I left the articles of clothing I needed behind. I did manage to bring a […]   Read More
Date: January 5, 2024

2024 Begins on Defense – Buy Weakness – Enough Said

Welcome to 2024! I hope you had a great long weekend. Mine was full of football, family, friends along with some yard work, the UCONN game and some office time. For the bourbon aficionados out there, I won an auction of various labels from the Buffalo Trace family that included three bottles of Wellers. Still no Pappy Van Winkle, but I won’t give up hope. For me this is traditionally the busiest week of the year inside the busiest month […]   Read More
Date: January 2, 2024

Hartford’s Top Financial Advisor Reveals Retirement Strategies for 2024

Gone are the days when a lifetime career with one employer led to a secure pension payment for the rest of your life. Now, the responsibility for building a retirement fund primarily falls on individuals with matching employer contributions. Retirement planning in 2024 is another opportunity to add to your retirement assets. For many, saving enough assets for a comfortable, secure retirement is a significant challenge. Several variables can impact the accumulation of these assets: Inflation, taxes, rising life expectancies, […]   Read More
Date: December 29, 2023

Final Day of 2023 Shaping Up To Be Down – Small Caps Have Been a Blockbuster

I have said this all year, but what a fun year it has been. Not only did the markets follow my script fairly well, but it was a blockbuster year for the bulls and investors. I don’t think 2024 will be a mirror image. I am sad to see the calendar turn, but random dates do not impact markets. I continue to formulate my 2024 Fearless Forecast and I look forward to sharing that with you next week. With markets […]   Read More
Date: December 29, 2023

Every Month Counts: 2024 Retirement Planning Made Simple

As a fee-only fiduciary financial advisor in Hartford, CT, taking a more defensive approach to retirement planning is important, especially when the securities markets are extremely unpredictable. Based on that, we have developed a 2024 retirement planning calendar that lists the many unknowns that could impact your retirement plans next year: persistent inflation, rising interest rates, a 2024 Presidential election, and continued market volatility. Regardless of what happens in the economy or stock market in 2024, your retirement plan should […]   Read More
Date: December 27, 2023

Bulls’ Stampede Continues – “BUT BUT BUT”

Stocks continue to creep higher as I have been discussing and as the various studies have suggested. I went back to see when I started mentioning strong seasonal tailwinds. It was at the end of October, coincidentally as the stock market was hammering in a major bottom. Since then with the exception of two weeks in December with seasonal headwinds, there has been study after study all suggesting higher and higher prices into year-end. This has been yet more evidence […]   Read More
Date: December 27, 2023

Panic Selling At All-Time Highs – What It Means

On Wednesday I wrote about runaway momentum and how it crushes everything in its way until it doesn’t. That very day and without notice, stocks saw a nasty downside reversal in matter of minutes that turned to hours. Some in the media made a federal case about it. I even heard one interviewer ask a guest to comment on the importance of the last 20 MINUTES. Come on. 20 minutes? Are we next going to discuss minute to minute trading? […]   Read More
Date: December 22, 2023

Runaway Momentum Crushing Everything In Its Way

It is pretty amazing what momentum can do in the markets. Once that ball gets rolling strongly in one direction it can powerfully build and build and then crush everything in its way, kind of like an avalanche which I know a little about. Let’s take a quick look. Below is the S&P 500. From the October bottom you can count only a few red days where the index closed below where it opened. Now, go see how many times […]   Read More
Date: December 20, 2023