Our Election Model Has Spoken – And a Guarantee Thrown In
As I often do when a long-awaited event is here, Kenny Loggins said it best, “This is it, make no mistake where you are… The waiting is over”. While we may not know the election results by the time I get back to the office tomorrow morning, at least it will be over in almost every state. More on that later. Our own internal election model is based on three different series of stock market returns with varying weights to […]
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Date: November 3, 2020
Election Like Y2K – Smart Money & Tech Behaving Poorly
It’s been a long year. It’s been a long election cycle. Thankfully, it’s the bottom of the 9th and two outs. No one wants the game to go extra innings. For the past week or two I have written that whatever stock market move happens into the election, plus or minus a day or so, the opposite move should happen this week. In short, the bulls should steady themselves and a rally should begin. That’s a pretty exact forecast and […]
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Date: November 2, 2020
Are You Part of this Retirement Statistic?
I read recently that only 40 percent of Americans have calculated how much they need to save for retirement. That statistic is shocking! Knowing how much to save now can seem mysterious, but it really shouldn’t be. How do you reach a goal if you don’t know what to do to get there? This is a fundamental step for any goal, but retirement may be the most important one you have. Living comfortably when you no longer receive a paycheck […]
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Date: November 2, 2020
Approval Ratings Forecast Election Winner – Looking for a Big Reversal Next Week
Surprise? Before I get into the topic of how approval ratings can predict the election, I want to predict that there will be positive vaccine and/or COVID news by Tuesday. The Trump campaign knows where they stand and that is probably their Hail Mary although with more than 60 million votes already cast, it would be hard to believe that any news between now and Tuesday can sufficiently influence the election. Approval Ratings Forecast the Winner To continue the theme […]
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Date: November 1, 2020
3 Election Tidbits Which Point to a Winner – Biden Portfolio Outperforming
Three election tidbits. Since 1952, no incumbent has been reelected with recession during election year. • 2020 • 2008 • 1980 • 1960 • 1952 Since 1952, no incumbent has been reelected with a 20% stock market decline during election year. • 2020 • 2008 The last three elections in years ending with “0” saw incumbent losses. • 2000 • 1980 • 1960 Wednesday’s decline continues to follow the market analog if the incumbent loses his reelection bid. COVID may […]
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Date: October 29, 2020
Market Scaring Out the Weak Holders Ahead of Halloween
I have the election 2020 and its market impact webinar tonight so I will keep this brief. I think you can still sign up, but we may be at capacity by now. Stocks digested the recent decline on Tuesday and a number of positives started popping up, including the narrowest intra-day range of any day of the past 7 days. In technical terms that is the ole NR7. Trading activity continued on the quiet side and the stock market is […]
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Date: October 28, 2020
Line in the Sand – Market Following Change of Power in DC
On Friday I wrote about the risk/reward favoring the bulls. That was because stocks had pulled back to an area where they should entice money into stocks. But if that thesis was wrong, the downside was relatively limited versus the potential upside. My line in the sand was a close below last week’s low. You can see this in the chart below depicted by the two blue, horizontal lines. That’s a set up I would take at every juncture. This […]
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Date: October 26, 2020
Risk/Reward Favors the Bulls
The major stock market indices have pulled back to interesting junctures. The risk/reward now favors the upside as long as prices do not close below the low for this week. That’s not much to risk on the downside. While the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 have been leading I would like to see some strength from the NASDAQ 100 well before October 29 which the a huge earnings date for mega tech. On the sector front, leadership is very mixed […]
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Date: October 23, 2020
Lack of Volatility More Likely
Last week, I wrote about a little trading range and a larger one. On Monday, the small range broke down, followed by a pause on Tuesday. In the very short-term, the bears should be able to push stocks lower below Monday’s low. The real range is bound by the September high and low. As I keep mentioning in the media, the pundits are and have been dead wrong concerning stock market volatility in an incumbent election year. Stocks are absolutely […]
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Date: October 21, 2020
5 Reasons Baby Boomers Need a Financial Advisor
Nearly 20 percent of Americans are Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. Many Boomers have already retired, while the remainder have reached or are approaching retirement age. The common challenge shared by most Boomers is how to adequately fund their retirements so that they don’t outlive their money. At Heritage Capital, we work with clients at all stages of their financial journey. And, while just about everyone can benefit from working with a financial advisor, Baby Boomers have specific […]
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Date: October 19, 2020
Bulls Hit the Wall But Path of Least Resistance Remains Higher
The bulls ran into a little trouble on Friday afternoon and gave up all of their gains and then some. Unless we see downside follow through on Monday I am not going to be too concerned. We have a small trading range bound by last week’s high and low. We have a bigger range bound by the high and low of September. Everything in between is just noise. The stock market is at an interesting crossroad regarding leadership. We have […]
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Date: October 19, 2020
Lines in the Sand – Semis Strong
After opening down more than 1% on Thursday, the bulls stepped up as the perceived “value” was too much to ignore after a few straight down days for stocks. We now have two very nice and tidy, short-term lines in the sand. They are bound by this week’s low and high. It’s that simple. Closing above or below those prices should induce more movement in that direction. For now, the bulls are supposed to run prices to the upper blue […]
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Date: October 16, 2020
Broad Participation in the Rally
I want to thank those of you who attended our webinar on Monday night where I reviewed Q3 performance and events as well as offered a sneak peak into Q4 and the election. I am in the process of scheduling a webinar based solely on the election and its market impact. The bulls finally took a breather on Tuesday after a solid run, even in the face of seasonal tailwinds. I still do not get the feeling they are done […]
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Date: October 14, 2020
Bulls Continue to Press Higher
The bulls continued their winning ways to end the week on Friday although it wasn’t as lopsided as the previous two days. There are some conflicting seasonal trends this week with Columbus Day and October expiration having tailwinds with the second five day period of October being a headwind. After seeing underperformance since the early September peak, mega cap tech is trying to regain leadership and that could be a story right into the next stock market. It will be […]
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Date: October 12, 2020
Bulls Running Hot
As you know my thesis has been for one more decline into mid to late October below the recent lows and then a rally into 2021. That was my number one scenario. My second scenario had the mid-September low being the bottom and the market remaining uber strong. Until this week, I felt confident in my view. Now, I have to be open that my less likely scenario may come to fruition. Why? The rally this week has been powerful […]
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Date: October 9, 2020
Lots Going on Beneath the Surface
I guess no one can be surprised that an unexpected tweet from President Trump threw the market for a loop. Certainly, that wasn’t in my forecast nor list of reasons why stocks would fall one more time. For the most part, emotional reversals like Tuesday have been immediately reversed since the bull market began in March. Only a close below Tuesday’s lowest levels would confirm that the decline is in full gear to the bottom I see forming later this […]
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Date: October 7, 2020
Important Retirement Ages
Your retirement benefits are a critical component that determine your quality of life in your Golden Years. You’ve got important decisions to make before and after your retirement date that directly impact your benefits from Social Security and your retirement accounts. Overlooking a few important dates lead to some of the biggest retirement planning mistakes we see made – mistakes that could have easily been avoided. So, open up your calendars and mark down the 8 key dates we highlight […]
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Date: October 6, 2020
Bulls Start the Week in Control
The new week starts with the President seemingly on the mend, but we don’t really know. With all the calls for full transparency with his health, let’s remember that the public was completely kept in the dark when Reagan was shot. No one knew until months later that he almost died on the table. I didn’t spend the time to review Kennedy’s assassination nor Ike’s heart attack. I recall when Bush fainted in Japan and that was quickly dismissed as […]
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Date: October 5, 2020
Trump Contracts Corona – Do Markets Care?
As everyone now knows, President & Mrs. Trump have the Coronavirus. Health scares from the West Wing have not been commonplace and markets typically do not like the uncertainty. We have had them with Bush and Reagan and Ike and more. Market reaction depends on the condition of the markets before the scare occurred. As you know, I have been on the negative side for some and I continue that way today. I have been very firm that I am […]
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Date: October 2, 2020
Election Year Octobers – Don’t Believe What You Hear
October begins today with its reputation of major stock market crashes. 1929, 1987, 1989, 1997 and 2008 come to mind. Truth be told, however, October is really a bear killer more than anything else with some major bottoms forming during the month. 1989, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2011. Usually, when stocks are under pressure and declining into October, the month acts as an accelerant to a bottom. When stocks are in an uptrend, the first week of the month […]
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Date: October 1, 2020
