The Magical & Mystical 200 Day Moving Average
On Monday I wrote China Stinky and said that we need to see how markets react to the news rather than accept the news at face value. And wouldn’t you know it, U.S. stocks surged higher after opening lower in the face of all that bad news. Let me get my shocked face, said me with full sarcasm. Can we rewind all those bearish pundit interviews before 10am on Monday? Of course the media won’t hold anyone accountable. On Tuesday […]
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Date: August 17, 2022
China Stinky
The new week begins with news that China’s economy isn’t as robust as thought. Who really knows what goes on over there. They are never forthcoming will data so this likely means it’s kind of stinky now. While that news hit the pre-market let’s remember that it’s not what the news is, but rather how markets react. Have you heard that before? When I look at the Chinese stocks and ETFs of which we own KWEB, they all seem to […]
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Date: August 15, 2022
Make Like a Banker—Stress Test Your Retirement Strategy
You’ve probably heard of stress tests for banks. These are designed to anticipate (and thereby lessen the impact of) worst-case scenarios: What if a stock market crash happens? What if rates go up? But what about your retirement money? Similarly, you should also be thinking about how you would react to adverse scenarios, such as an unexpected medical emergency or the death of your spouse. A retirement stress test can help evaluate how well prepared you are for unexpected events […]
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Date: August 15, 2022
Face Ripping Rally
On Wednesday before the government released the first of two inflation reports I wrote If I am Wrong the Rally Has Ended. I try to be crystal clear on my thesis. I wrote that “I do not believe the rally has ended…” There was no wavering. But I always try recognize how and when I could be wrong. I was surprised at the number of emails asking me why I thought the rally was over. I never said I thought […]
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Date: August 12, 2022
If I am Wrong the Rally Has Ended
The stock market as measured by the S&P 500 has basically gone nowhere in 7 trading sessions. Bulls say it is a sign of strength that all the negative headlines have been unable to shake the market lower. Bears looks at that dark blue horizontal line below and conclude that stocks failed to close above it and are now vulnerable. Although I do not believe the rally from the June 17th bottom is over, I am certainly aware of a […]
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Date: August 10, 2022
Heading to the Hamptons – No Recession There
For you golf fans out there, if you didn’t catch Nick Faldo’s retirement from a second successful career, it’s one for the ages. Watch here. And so we start a new week with the dog days of summer still crushing New England and much of the country. I cannot get over how long we have had hazy, hot and humid days in CT. This isn’t the southeast where people are used to it. And if you’re keeping score at home, […]
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Date: August 8, 2022
***Q2 Client Update***
Many people like to read my very “brief” quarterly client update which I select excerpts. If you’re one of them, please read on. If not, feel free to stop now. Always happy to hear comments and questions. Let’s dive right in, be upfront and recognize that Q2 was a very challenging quarter in almost every asset class and across the spectrum with poor performance at a level not seen since Q1 2020. In fact, although the stock market did not […]
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Date: August 5, 2022
High Yield Bonds Join The Party – FINALLY!
Until the last few weeks, I had been complaining about high yield’s lack of enthusiasm off the June lows. The sector had looked like death. I am sure part my bemoaning was that the fact that we have been legging into the high yield sector since June to get fully fully invested. Below I show you two different ways to view junk bonds, through an ETF and a mutual fund, let me also say that because these bonds pay high […]
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Date: August 3, 2022
Dog Days of August
I can’t believe it’s already August. I am not ready for the countdown to end summer, even though ski season may only be 100 or so days away. I like wearing shorts, tee shirts and flip flops. Where has the year gone? Can we slow down a bit? July’s market action was a whole lot more fun for the bulls than June, May, April, etc. The S&P 500 was up more than 9% and the bond market rallied by 2.5%. […]
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Date: August 1, 2022
Recession?!?! – NOT
Let’s start with my conclusion. The U.S. is not in recession as I think I have stated every month this year. Yes, I know the government just released its first look at Q2 GDP and it was negative for the second straight quarter. And if you consult Webster’s dictionary, that’s the definition of recession. But since when is Webster the end all be all arbiter? Lots of pundits believe the U.S. is already in recession. I have not been among […]
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Date: July 29, 2022
***SPECIAL Fed Update – Pivot on the Way, No Recession Yet***
Let’s start with the market info of the day. It’s Fed announcement day and the market usually trades plus or minus 0.50% until 2pm and then volatility expands and we get a big move, usually to the upside. With the pre-market strong, much work looks to already be done. Because the last two days were weak that strengthened the trend today to a large degree and on Twitter you saw the additional positions taken. Jay Powell and the rest of […]
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Date: July 27, 2022
How We Helped Janice Create a Successful Retirement Plan
Janice was a new client who came to us to set up a retirement savings financial plan. She was 55 and wanted to retire in 10 years. Her investments for retirement were primarily in a 401(k) plan through her employer. She owned a lot of company stock. She also had an account at a major brokerage house and invested in an assortment of stocks, mutual funds, and bonds. Janice was unsure how that was working for her. She was thinking […]
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Date: July 26, 2022
Dizzying Week Ahead
With the biggest earnings week of the season including Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and UPS, the FOMC announcement on Wednesday and first look at Q2 GDP on Thursday, this is going to be a super busy week. Heading into the weekend, S&P 4000 or so looked to be a logical pause point for the stock market as I wrote here. Stocks have had a nice bounce off the June bottom and a breather will not be the worst thing in […]
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Date: July 25, 2022
Bulls Firmly in Control But 4000 Should Start Pause
The stock market is having a good week. The nasty reversal on Monday didn’t even give the bears satisfaction for 24 hours. It turned out to be a trap and stocks immediately soared higher again. Below is an update of the chart I posted last week with price filling in for where I had my light blue lines to generally forecast the next few weeks. S&P 4000 is within reach and that would fill the remaining gap left from the […]
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Date: July 22, 2022
Finally a Surge in Buying Interest
Don’t look now, but the bulls have scored two big up days in the last three days with an intervening reversal on Monday. We are finally seeing a surge in buying interest as the many of the major indices attempt to exceed their late June highs. If successful that would be higher highs and higher lows. If I am wrong and the bear market is about to resume we should see immediate failure by the bulls. The S&P 500 is […]
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Date: July 20, 2022
The News is Awful
The news this week has been putrid, like Tiger Woods’ golf at the British Open. CPI was hot. PPI was hot. Talk has turned to a full 1% rate hike by the Fed on July 27th. Bank earnings hasn’t been very good so far except for Citibank. Yet, as I write this before lunch the S&P 500 is down a little more than 1% this week. The NASDAQ 100 is down even less. With all that bad news, the casual […]
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Date: July 15, 2022
6 Smart Strategies for High Net Worth Retirement Planning
High net worth (HNW) families such as yours face unique challenges, and opportunities, in the years leading up to retirement. You require sophisticated planning that addresses the complexities that inevitably accompany affluence, from tax strategies to estate plans. It’s critical to partner with the right professional financial advisor, someone with the knowledge and experience to customize solutions for your unique circumstances. And a friendly, caring attitude wouldn’t hurt, either. Here are six elements of an overall strategy that map out […]
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Date: July 14, 2022
Feeling HOT, HOT HOT
On Tuesday I saw a tweet quoting someone in the Biden Administration as saying that today’s inflation data had “stale” energy prices in it. To me that meant he had already seen the report and was prepping the markets and people for a hot CPI today. The stock market hung in nicely on Tuesday until the lunchtime lull turned into the afternoon plunge. All in all, it still wasn’t an awful day. The government released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) […]
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Date: July 13, 2022
Staving Off Recession, For Now
On Friday the government released June employment data and revised prior months with real data, not the algo they use in real time. The economy created 372,000 new jobs well beyond expectations of 250,000 new jobs. However, April and May were revised lowed by 74,000. Wages gained 5% year over year. All in all this was another stellar report on the surface. However, markets now seem to be in the good news is bad news regime as a stronger economy […]
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Date: July 11, 2022
Time for a Pause or Mild Pullback?
The stock market has had a nice little rally over the past week. It still needs to clear some upside to see that defined higher highs and higher lows, but let’s not be greedy here. The rally hasn’t exactly been powerful or overwhelmingly strong. So far, it just looks like a bounce from A low but not THE low. These bounces can persist for days, weeks or months depending on how long it takes for investors to believe again. I […]
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Date: July 8, 2022
