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Author:

Paul Schatz, President, Heritage Capital

Bulls Approaching The Danger Zone

Because of the holiday-shortened week last week, I wasn’t planning on a Thursday update, but I quickly cobbled one together. In my haste, I did not wish everyone celebrating, a Happy Passover and Easter. I hope yours was meaningful if you observed. Going without gluten for 8 days doesn’t make Passover a favorite. However, as I do every year, I ate pizza and/or pasta at least once a day for 7 days leading up to the holiday so I would […]   Read More
Date: April 18, 2022

Switching Financial Advisors: Finding A Pro in Connecticut

People hear the words “wealth management” and imagine somebody shuffling piles of gold coins around. Similarly, if they hear someone is “changing investment advisors,” they think it means swapping stock market coaches. The second one is right—because we do provide investing insights—but that’s only a small corner of the larger picture. My goal is to improve your overall financial life.  Of course, this can happen through run-of-the-mill investing. However, it is more often due to interwoven fiscal strategies, like retirement […]   Read More
Date: April 18, 2022

Strong Seasonals & HOTTTT Inflation

Today is the day before Good Friday which is a seasonally strong day for stocks with surprisingly low downside when the bulls do not show up. Additionally, Monday is tax day which is also a strong seasonal day for stocks. The only 1%+ down days (2) in the past 20 days occurred with the S&P 500 below its average price of the last 20, 50 and 200 days. Today, the S&P 500 lies in between the 50 and 20/200. A […]   Read More
Date: April 14, 2022

Inflation Has Peaked

After a textbook thrust off of the March lows the stock market has not behaved well this month. Recall that the masses were beating their chest how strong April usually is for stocks. The last two days have not been pretty for the bulls, especially in the NASDAQ 100, and they do not have much leeway left for stocks to not turn ugly again. The bulls need to step up in the here and now which the odds still favor. […]   Read More
Date: April 13, 2022

Markets on Defensive – Oil Bear Market Rages On

Stocks return from the weekend the same way they began the weekend, on the defensive. After closing above the highest levels seen in February and sucking in investors, the stock market promptly reversed and is now pulling back again. The Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 are mild so far, but the S&P 400, Russell 2000 and NASDAQ 100 are deeper and more concerning. The technology sector just trades very heavy as interest rates continue to soar on the long […]   Read More
Date: April 11, 2022

Brainard Should Resign

Yesterday, I wrote about the little pullback in stocks. That was before Fed head Lael Brainard threw a big bucket of cold water on the markets. Brainard is usually in the dovish camp and was often mentioned as a replacement for Jay Powell if the liberals had their way with President Biden. Recall, she was widely considered as the front runner for Secretary of the Treasury if Hillary Clinton won in 2016. She’s certainly no hawk when it comes to […]   Read More
Date: April 7, 2022

A Little Pullback for Stocks

It wasn’t the ending UCONN Nation was hoping for in Minneapolis, but the best team all year with the best player all year won the national championship. UCONN was a M.A.S.H. unit all season and that carried right into the final buzzer. With another array of high school All-Americans coming to Storrs in a few short months, I have no doubt the team will be in Dallas this time next year. FYI, I am scheduled to join Maria Bartiromo on […]   Read More
Date: April 5, 2022

Retirement Planning: Will Social Security Really Go Broke?

The way people talk when discussing retirement planning, it sounds like a foregone conclusion. However, despite what you hear, Social Security probably isn’t going anywhere. Click here to view my recent video about the viability of Social Security. As a matter of fact, the Social Security Trust Fund is already at zero (even though some say it won’t reach that point for a few years): Our government has already borrowed trillions from it.  Believe it or not, you can still […]   Read More
Date: April 4, 2022

Late Day Plunge to End The Month & Quarter

Greetings from the Ice Box of America, Minnesota, where it is surprisingly sunny and nice. I can’t decide if ice fishing, curling or the Mall of America is our on the docket for the weekend. With the month and quarter-end on Thursday we certainly saw some portfolio games in the last hour although they were not of the usual bullish variety. Check out the right side of the chart below. You can see the late day plunge that was essentially […]   Read More
Date: April 1, 2022

Stocks Rally Through Feb Highs – Bullish Sentiment Rising

On the surface we have seen one powerful move off the March bottom in the stock market. It’s been almost relentless with only one real down day out of 10. Additionally, we saw many of the major indices exceed their February highs, an area that has garnered much attention as lines in the sand for the bears to know they’re wrong. You can see that below in the S&P 500 with the blue, horizontal line. While I didn’t think stocks […]   Read More
Date: March 30, 2022