In a recent Wall Street Journal article, columnist Jason Zweig talks about the growth in tech stocks and the outlook for their continued upward trend. “At their lows this week,” writes Zweig, “the technology shares that have until recently been the stock market’s darlings—Facebook, Amazon.com, Netflix, Google’s parent company Alphabet and other giants—had fallen more than 17% since March 13. Over the same period, U.S. stocks overall fell 8%.” Although Zweig points out that the… Read More
A recent article in U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation discusses the capital market conditions behind the now nine-year-old U.S. bull market, including the shrinkage in the number of publicly-listed firms to “just one half what it was in the mid-1990s.” Over the past twenty years, the article reports, “U.S. companies bought back vastly more stock than they issued,” to the tune of $3.6 trillion. IPOs have also dropped off considerably, the article points out, citing… Read More
Just because market corrections are normal, that doesn’t mean they’re painless. This according to a recent article in Bloomberg. The article points out that the present bull market has seen five corrections before the most recent one, and “it’s taken around seven months on average for equities to climb out of their hole. Based on that path, the current jitters won’t be fully eradicated until August.” Since 2009, the article reports, the average correction in… Read More
Now isn’t the time for investors to get comfortable, says a recent article in The Wall Street Journal. The underlying economic environment, it says, is “muddier” than it was in January, with some survey data suggesting that growth may have peaked while inflation is “likely to pick up.” The article suggests that investors should learn from the past market events, specifically the “credit correlation blowup of 2005” when auto makers Ford and General Motors were downgraded… Read More
In a recent Bloomberg article, AQR’s Cliff Asness argues that the opinion pendulum on hedge funds has swung too far, that “all you read about today is that hedge funds are a failure and investors are fleeing.” This overreaction, he explains, comes in part from; (1) a failure to understand how to measure hedge-fund returns, and the fact that (2) the last few years have been a “mild disappointment and they have given critics enough… Read More
In a recent interview with NYU professor and research firm L2 founder Scott Galloway, Bloomberg columnist Barry Ritholtz shares insights about investing, current market trends and what may lie ahead. Here are some highlights: Ritholtz points out that 2017 was an unusual year for the market given the extremely low level of volatility. The recent correction he says, is normal. “Risk is a two-sided coin,” he argues. “If you want potential upside, you must be… Read More
In a CNBC interview held last week, billionaire Leon Cooperman shared insights regarding recent market trends and influences. The billionaire founder of Omega Advisors made the following points: FAANG stocks, which he says represent about 10% of his portfolio, have sound valuations based on expected earnings. The biggest threat, argues Cooperman, is the U.S. government, which wants to “pick their pockets.” Inflation, Cooperman contends, is a “plus for common stocks” since higher costs become incorporated… Read More
At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, billionaire Ray Dalio told CNBC that the coming tax cut could lead to big gains for the U.S. stock market. “We are in a Goldilocks period right now,” said the Bridgewater CEO. “Inflation isn’t a problem. Growth is good,” he said, predicting a “market blow off” rally fueled by cash from banks, corporations and investors. “There is a lot of cash on the sidelines,” he added. “If… Read More
According to a recent Bloomberg article, the fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) factor looms large as the S&P 500 “got off to its best start to a year since 1999,” adding, “It’s risen above worries about North Korea’s ‘Rocket Man’ and the unpredictable U.S. president who revels in provoking him.” Debating the validity of such fears, the article says, “there’s little debate that there will be something legitimate to miss out on in the stock market in the… Read More
As the bull market trudges toward its ninth year, “daring, animal spirits and greed have supplanted fear,” and “bears that once roared at any sign of trouble now seldom make a peep.” This according to a recent article in Bloomberg. Citing findings from a recent survey by the National Association of Active Investment Managers, the article reports that “even the most pessimistic mutual fund overseers are fully invested in stocks,” adding that equity exposure rose to… Read More