On Monday as stocks looked to surge and recoup some of what was lost on Friday, I offered that the bounce would likely be underwhelming and I thought new lows would ensue at some point over the coming week or two. I didn’t think that would happen the very next day, but the market gods don’t always deliver in the manner I expect. Regarding Tuesday, it was an ugly day with almost 90% of the volume trading on the down […]
Read More
Following up from yesterday’s video, the stock market seeks to bounce back from Friday’s holiday-shortened, 2% drubbing. Yes, no matter how the bears slice it, the decline remains only 2% and a stone’s throw from all-time highs. The bears think this is the beginning of the end for the bull market and a collapse lies in wait for 2022. The bulls find the decline “curious” and interestingly timed along with the utter collapse in oil. One thing I have very […]
Read More
They say we learn from our mistakes, but when it comes to retirement, the lesson may come too late to be of any value! With that in mind, here’s an opportunity to learn from someone else’s – a cautionary tale about the importance of a second opinion and switching financial advisors. An investor, who I’ll call “Jack,” was a mid-level manager at a large Fortune 500 company. He liked his company but admitted that it didn’t offer much advice on […]
Read More
Today and Friday are super strong days on a seasonal basis for stocks. That’s how it is every year around Thanksgiving although certain setups make the days stronger or weaker. With pre-market futures indicating a moderately lower open, we will see if the bulls borrowed some positivity on Tuesday. I do not sense a big down day regardless. There is certainly enough bearishness around and it seems to be growing. The other day I mentioned the calls for global collapse. […]
Read More
Greetings from the left coast where I am in the process of traveling home from a mystical and magical week at Pebble Beach with friends. Having not been there for 31 years, I was at a loss for words to describe how amazing it felt to be back at the greatest golf resort on earth, not to mention playing golf with and socializing with a good number of PGA and LPGA pros. If only my golf game cooperated! Looking back […]
Read More
Hopefully, you have seen my thesis that inflation is in the process of peaking. Notice, I didn’t say it peaked. The process has begun. That’s high conviction and what I going with until proven otherwise. If I am correct we will see this unfold in various sectors and asset classes, like commodities, industrials, materials, energy and bonds. For the past week I have not had strong conviction that the mild, barely discernible pullback was over and I still don’t. Sentiment […]
Read More
The bulls enjoyed a nice bounce back on Friday from the minuscule pullback last week. While it’s not my highest conviction play it certainly looks like there should a bit more downside to come, and preferably before the holiday. As I mentioned last week, sentiment is getting to the point where is about as euphoric, greedy and giddy as it ever gets, rivaling several spots in the post-2008 bull market as well as the Dotcom era. But before you assume […]
Read More
Markets have been super quiet over the past few days. We have seen the pause and mild pullback I wrote about, but there should be more to it. Sentiment is back in the greedy, euphoric stage, but let’s remember that frothiness usually needs some structural damage before we see real weakness. Economic and earnings data continue to support my theme that the economy is re-accelerating strongly. Inflation data is the hottest in 31 years which also is right in line […]
Read More
Let’s talk pre-Thanksgiving turkey. From October 12 through November 8, the S&P 500 has basically gone straight up with one noticeable down day on October 27. That’s only one real down day in 18. That would be called a powerful and momentum driven market. Momentum dies hard. Strength begets strength. Eventually, the bulls just get exhausted and stocks pull back because there’s no buying power available. That’s the likely scenario here. Stocks will just mildly pull back with little notice. […]
Read More
Listening to the media on Friday, you would think that the powerful employment report caused a major surge in stock prices. It was literally a parade of bulls with many being asked if things could ever get better. We now have the “perfect Goldilocks environment for stocks”. Oh boy. Uh oh. 20 months ago with the Dow Industrials at 18,000 almost no one wanted to invest. As stocks rallied and rallied and rallied, more and more investors hopped on board […]
Read More
In my experience as a financial advisor for more than 30 years, I’ve learned that many investors, even confident, successful, high net worth investors, learn by example, like we do in the rest of our lives. Unfortunately, many times, this example is a mistake they make themselves. With this in mind, I’d like to tell you about “Jane,” a well-educated woman I met before the pandemic who agreed to let me share her story. Some mistakes can be quite costly, […]
Read More
It’s jobs Friday and the report did not disappoint. As you already know from this Yahoo segment on October 28, my high conviction thesis has been that U.S. economic growth re-accelerates strongly in Q4 and Q1. I hadn’t seen anyone else with this call in October. Additionally, earnings also surprise to the upside for Q4. In turn, this would also keep the bull market running powerfully into 2022 with the rising tide lifting most boats. I know I have been […]
Read More
There have no surprises this week, at least not for my readers. The Fed announced its overdue plan to reduce asset purchases. Check. The Russell 2000 finally scored a new all-time high. Check. The Dow Industrials hit my upside target of 36,000. Check. The other major stock market indices continued to make new highs. Check. The rising tide has lifted most ships. Check. The rally since late September has been powerful and relentless. Starting on September 20 and ever since, […]
Read More
Let me start off by sharing a fun, engaging and informative interview I did with the good folks at Investors Hub. The Federal Reserve is currently meeting and we are finally going to hear about the long-awaited, surprise to no one, way overdue plan to taper asset purchases. This should have started over a year ago when inflation was in its infancy. Of course, my readers began hearing about inflation in the summer of 2020 as the train was leaving […]
Read More
Greetings again from 32,000 feet! After a super turbulent flight down, I landed and my license was gone. Yes, somehow between Hartford and Fort Lauderdale it disappeared. And even though I had a picture copy, they would not let me rent a car. 40 minute long story short where I started making all these alternative plans and had my wife on the phone calling Hartford TSA while I called JetBlue, I found my license in my sneaker, the one on […]
Read More
No one blinks when you ask for a second medical opinion. After all, it’s your health and well-being. You can’t be too careful. So why don’t more people seek second opinions on their finances? It’s their financial health and well-being after all. There are many motives for seeking a second financial opinion, and they don’t necessarily imply that you are currently getting bad advice, just like you may not be receiving bad medical advice either. However, if you are, changing […]
Read More
Greetings from 34,000 feet! 17 years ago, I swore I would never take a red eye flight from CA and I haven’t since. Taking a 6am is equally unappealing. Arriving at the airport at 5am, I found a literal sea of people and chaos. No matter which line you chose they were all backed up the length of the terminal and out the door. 50 minutes to get through security using TSA Pre-Check is unacceptable and insane. While in line, […]
Read More
The Dow Industrials sit at all-time highs. The S&P 500 has rallied for 7 straight days and is at all-time highs. The S&P 400 just hit all-time highs. It has been a fun run when most did not expect it. Wait until the Russell 2000 small caps get their tail in gear to the upside. That’s coming. If I had to poke holes in my bullish thesis I would talk about the chart below which is a popular high yield […]
Read More
It has been a nice and fun run for the bulls since the middle of last week. The major stock market indices have all rallied 3-4%. It’s good that they are in sync. However, (Geez Paul, can’t you just leave it at that?) the daily number of stocks going up versus going down has been a bit of a stinker for the past four days. I would have liked to see very broad participation, especially in a rally so young. […]
Read More
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. I would rather have been wrong on my forecast and perfectly right on our models. How’s that for a sentence to begin my Q3 report? Over the past few months, I have concluded every single client meeting with my thoughts that gains in […]
Read More