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
Stocks Bounce Right on Schedule – Imagine That!
Last week on Wednesday and Friday, I changed my tune and starting looking for a rally after a full correction had taken place in the major stock market indices. I also wrote about the NASDAQ 100 retaking its leadership position. The bulls definitely reasserted themselves on Friday and Monday with back to back strong rallies. 85% of trading volume on Monday was in stocks that went up, a powerful sign of more to come over the intermediate-term. However, the 85% […]
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Date: September 29, 2020
How to Test Drive Your Retirement: Addressing Retirees’ 3 Biggest Fears
Are you a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty type of person? Whichever camp you belong to, it’s realistic to have concerns about your retirement life. The changes that retirement brings deserve serious thought, and more importantly, action. It’s even better if you can test drive your retirement to see if the plans you put forth really work for you. The team at Heritage Capital has been helping people retire with confidence for more than 30 years. In that time, we’ve identified the […]
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Date: September 28, 2020
Looking for a Bounce Now
It’s been a relatively volatile week in the markets, but nothing compared to Q1 and April. Here is what we know today as the final day of the week begins. The NASDAQ 100 which led the way down forged its lowest price on September 21. The other four major stock market indices saw their lows on September 24. That’s the first clue that something may be changing, at least in the very, very short-term which is how trends begin. I […]
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Date: September 25, 2020
Market Finds Temp Low on Schedule But More Downside Ahead
The major stock market indices found their initial low in the expected zone of Monday/Tuesday. That’s the good news. A bounce began and it is supposed to last more than just a day and a half. However, if the indices roll over now, Monday’s low will be breached very quickly and we could see some sharp downside follow through. This remains the weakest week on the calendar. Monday’s action saw the NASDAQ 100 close up on the day, but the […]
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Date: September 23, 2020
Sell Rosh Hashanah Buy Yom Kippur – Bears in Charge
There has been a trend in place for many, many decades that says to sell heading into the Jewish High Holy Days and buy coming out of them. Friday was the day to sell and next Monday’s close is the day buy. The theory says that Jewish investors would sell their material possessions during the most sacred period of their year to reflect on the year that was and atone for their sins as the period ends on Yom Kippur. […]
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Date: September 21, 2020
Market Bottom Still Ahead
This is just a quick update as the market is about to open. My thoughts remain the same and clear. The bottom is not in just yet. I remain concerned in the short-term. At a minimum I want to see the recent lows breached. If one index bucks the trend, that’s the index I will focus on for the next rally. Since mid-July I have written about the frothiness, the giddyness and the greed in the Fab Five Plus NASDAQ […]
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Date: September 18, 2020
Fed Day – Will Bears Join the Party?
Today is yet another conclusion of the Fed’s two-day meeting where nothing major is being anticipated. Sure, it’s the first meeting since Jackson Hole where Powell offered a change to the Fed’s 2% ceiling on inflation, but I only expect additional details that do not move the markets nor the economy. The Fed has done a lot, extraordinary measures. And they created the longest runway in history before rates will be hiked again. But remember, meteorologists have better track records […]
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Date: September 16, 2020
Bulls Come Back Hungry While A Popular Analog Fails
I received a number of emails and calls that my tone has become negative, too negative by some estimations. That’s fine. I am usually accused of being too positive or permanently bullish. I just call them like I see them and try not to stay wrong for too long. While the bears won last week’s battle, the bulls look like they want to bounce back hard as the new week begins. Certainly, the bulls are due for at least a […]
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Date: September 14, 2020
How to Retire Without Your Spouse: Investment Strategies for the Divorced or Widowed
Divorce has become increasingly common in the United States over the past few decades, and roughly 25 percent of people 65 or older are widowed. Despite this, however, approximately two-thirds of married couples don’t have a financial plan set up in the case of divorce or widowhood. What happens if you do become divorced or widowed either when retirement is imminent or once you’re retired? Are there investment strategies that can help in either scenario? In our more than 30 […]
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Date: September 14, 2020
Remembering 9-11 – NEVER FORGET
September 11th seems to sneak up on me each year. This year was worse as the country is still dealing with the Corona pandemic and the overall heightened state of affairs. With kids going back to school, Labor Day and the start of the NFL season, it feels like I wake up and realize 9-11 is either the next day or very close by. I wasn’t around when Pearl Harbor was bombed but I know everyone from that generation remembers […]
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Date: September 11, 2020
Bottom Still Ahead of Us
Wednesday definitely saw the anticipated snapback I mentioned the other day, however, the bulls limped into the close. I did not want to see that. Stocks remain in a fragile state and that is unlikely to end here. I still believe the major indices will see lower prices than they saw so far this week. In other words, the bottom should not be in just yet. When do I think stocks WILL find the low? I wish I had strong […]
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Date: September 10, 2020
Sell the Rally – Bottom Not In
Stocks got hit with the ugly stick again on Tuesday. If you are keeping score at home, the NASDAQ 100 fell 11% in just three days. No one should be surprised this happened as I have been discussing it since mid-July. Sentiment got giddy and greedy, just like it was in February. Greed is almost always punished swiftly and sharply. Everyone’s favorite stock split plays, Tesla and Apple, plummeted 35% and 20% respectively. Zoom got hit for 27%. These are […]
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Date: September 9, 2020
Bears Not Ceding After Friday’s Reversal
After Thursday’s major rout in the stock market, especially in the much ballyhooed mega tech sector, investors found out super quickly that their love affair with the Fab Five Plus is now a two-way street. Yes, indeed folks, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, etc. can do down even faster than they rallied. While most investors did not enjoy that behavior, it is a welcomed return to more normal activity. It’s also something I warned about last month when I wrote about selling […]
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Date: September 8, 2020
September Not as Bad Beneath the Surface – Ugly Stick Out in Full Force on Thursday
As the calendar has turned to September, let’s not forget all of the pundits who incorrectly warned about August being such a tough month. While there is nothing wrong with being wrong (I do it every day), there is a lot wrong when you are lazy and do not do your homework. Those who painted August with a broad brush just recited some stat they saw on Twitter. Instead, they should have been reading this blog and learning about the […]
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Date: September 4, 2020
Might the Bears Growl a Little?
It’s strange waking up to see the NASDAQ 100 futures down 100+ points. I quipped on Twitter the other day that the new norm was seeing them up 100+ every morning. Let’s keep this all in context. The index is up 4% over the past 5 days and 14% over the past month. It’s up 40% over the past 6 months. It’s been one helluva run! The Fab Five Plus stocks which make up a good portion of the index […]
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Date: September 3, 2020
Bulls Refuse to Give Up Ground
As you know, I have written many pieces lately about my concerns around the NASDAQ 100 and Fab Five plus a few stocks. Between “everyone” loving those few stocks and the indices hitting new highs with more stocks declining than advancing and overall sentiment on the giddy side, there has been no shortage of cracks in the market’s foundation. Yet what has happened? The bulls have run right over the bears each and every time. The NASDAQ hasn’t had even […]
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Date: August 31, 2020
2009 Argues for Much Higher NASDAQ 100
As I tweeted the other day, the powers that be at Dow Jones have completely turned the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average into a manipulated farce. They threw out three low priced stocks and added three high priced stocks. I speculate that this was all about Apple’s 4:1 stock split. Remember that the Dow is a price weighted index. That means that every 1 point move in a Dow stock now equals roughly 7 Dow points. When Apple was $500, […]
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Date: August 26, 2020
Everything is Hunky Dory – Apple a Selling Opp
Market action is definitely feeling like 1999/early 2000 when the hot NASDAQ stocks were melting higher right out of the gate every morning. More importantly, there were so many days with horrid market internals and prices just kept going higher. Last Friday may have been the most egregious since the bull market began in March. On the NYSE there was almost two stocks declining for every one stock rallying. That behavior usually occurs on a one percent down day. Instead, […]
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Date: August 24, 2020
