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Stock Markets and the Economy

Found 234 Articles.
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Bob’s Journal

March 1, 2018

Highlighting a Spectacular Earnings Season Earnings season for the fourth quarter of 2017 ended last week, and it was an outstanding season. A key point to keep in mind is that analysts increased their estimate forecasts through the quarter as the economic data became stronger. In fact, the rate of forecast increases was the most […]

The Dog That Didn’t Bark

February 22, 2018

What was a unique feature of the recent stock market sell- off? Give yourself a prize if you said the limited action in the bond market, especially high-yield and corporate bonds. High-yield bonds are correlated more with equities than with government bonds, so when stocks have a correction, there’s usually a jump in high-yield bond […]

It Looks Like a Typical Correction

February 15, 2018

The recent correction shook up investors, and that will be good for the markets in the coming months. Before the correction, stock indexes had been on an extended upward climb. The climb became very steep in January. Importantly, technical measures indicated stocks not only were overbought, but extremely overbought. That means the index was more […]

Finally, a Significant Market Decline

February 7, 2018

I didn’t mean to put a hex on the stock markets last week. In last Thursday’s Bob’s Journal, I wondered how investors would react to the next big decline in stocks. I pointed out that a decline of more than 500 points on the Dow would be only a 2% decline. However, such a decline […]

The Market Melt-Up

February 1, 2018

Stock indexes had an amazing start to 2018, so it shouldn’t be a surprise they closed January with consecutive down days. Before Jan. 30, the S&P 500 had 350 trading days without consecutive daily declines of 0.5% or more each. That’s a record by a wide margin. Fewer than a handful of such S&P 500 […]

Where the Real Action Is

January 25, 2018

  Investors who are focused on U.S. stocks are missing a lot. It is true that U.S. stocks are off to one of the strongest starts ever to a calendar year. But savvy investors should be focusing elsewhere, specifically on the weakening U.S. dollar and the international stock markets. The dollar continues to be weak […]

Navigating the Great Transition: Investment and Economic Year-End 2017 Review

January 5, 2018

Click the arrow above to begin the presentation. Please make sure your speakers are turned up. We’re entering a period with higher than usual uncertainty for investors. The economy and most investments have been supported by extraordinary measures from central banks since 2009. These policies kept interest rates near zero. Now, though, we’re in the […]

Byron Wein’s 10 Stock Market Investment Surprises

January 4, 2018

The BlackStone strategist published his annual list of 10 potential surprises for the coming year, plus five runners up. Byron Wein emphasizes that these aren’t predictions of what will happen. These are events most people discount but that he thinks have at least a 50% probability of occurring. It’s interesting reading every year. He reviews […]

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