Category: Markets

Posted on

My First Local News Appearance

Yesterday, I was interviewed by WLUK Fox 11’s Nick Harrington for my first local news appearance.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous. After all, I’m not sure how I’ll come off on camera, I don’t know the exact questions they’ll ask, and I get nervous that they may use snippets out of context in a way that wasn’t intended.

However, Fox 11 used great, relevant snippets and in the proper context so I’m very happy with it. It’s good to have the first one under the belt so I know what to expect next time. Continue reading “My First Local News Appearance”

Posted on

U.S. Stocks vs. Foreign Stocks

If an investor is inclined to follow the markets they tend to follow one or two U.S. stock market indices. The most common are the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

However, those incorporate just a minority of the publicly-listed stocks in the U.S. albeit the largest companies. A better proxy for the overall U.S. stock market is the Russell 3000. We also can’t forget to point out that there is still the rest of the world to consider.

The U.S. stock market has dominated foreign stocks since the Great Financial Crisis (see chart below: U.S. stocks in purple, foreign stocks in orange, and global bonds in blue). Continue reading “U.S. Stocks vs. Foreign Stocks”

Posted on

Fads Come and Go

Fads come and go.

Below is a list of some of the more popular/trendy/fad/meme stocks and favored gambling vehicles of the last couple years alongside their respective 52-week highs and current prices.

It’s important to understand what’s happening beneath the surface. A breakdown of internals can be an early indicator of a downtrend.

In fact, this morning I came across a stat that over one-third of NASDAQ stocks are down over 50% from their peaks!

You might not know it from looking at the headline indices but things continue to rot under the surface. Continue reading “Fads Come and Go”

Posted on

How to Outperform Over Full Market Cycles

Imagine for a moment it’s 2009 at the tail-end of the Great Financial Crisis, and I’m telling you to get aggressive with your investment strategy.

The economy just went through its worst recession since the Great Depression. At its worst point the U.S. stock market was down 55% from its all-time high in 18 months’ time.

If you were lucky enough to keep your job your salary’s been frozen or even cut. Your home value has decreased dramatically when everyone was saying for years that home values never decline. Family and friends around you are in dire straits as they’ve lost their jobs and their homes. 100+ year-old financial institutions have failed. The government is printing trillions to bail out some of these companies the terms of which are being decided by unelected bureaucrats behind closed doors on weekend evenings when the markets are closed with no transparency. Folks are “occupying” Wall Street to protest bailouts for the “1%.”

Continue reading “How to Outperform Over Full Market Cycles”

Posted on

Unstoppable Tesla

As just one illustration of what’s taking place in this market, Tesla stock gained over $115 billion today (yes, billion with a “B”) on the news that Hertz has placed an order for 100,000 vehicles over the next 14 months totaling about $4 billion in revenue. That’s almost 30x the one-time sale! Not earnings but SALES!

Put another way, Tesla added two entire Ford Motor Company’s in a single day (based on $60+ billion market cap)! Ford sells over 4 million vehicles worldwide each year and, yet, Tesla stock increased by two Ford Motor Company’s (equivalent to 8 million cars annually) in a single day on the news of a 100,000 one-time fleet sale over 14 months.

Christopher Bloomstran points out, “As of today, $TSLA is valued above the entire global auto industry, PLUS Uber, Lyft, Progressive, GEICO (if public), Allstate, Duke Energy & Dominion Energy.”

To put that in perspective, understand that there are about 74 – 78 million cars sold globally and Tesla sells about 1 million of those yet Tesla is valued more than the rest of the entire global auto industry combined. Continue reading “Unstoppable Tesla”