You probably didn’t notice, but Monday, September 11 marked a milestone: the S&P 500 index’s bull market became the second-longest and the second-best performing in the modern economic era. Stock prices are up 270% from their low point after the Great Recession in March 2009—up 340% if you include dividends. That beats the 267% gain […]
They say a picture speaks a thousand words, and that means, to an economist, that sometimes it’s easier to communicate something complicated with a chart or a graph rather than a lot of explanatory text. So it is with three charts and a picture, selected for the eye-opening perspective they offer. The first, in the […]
Have you ever wondered what stock market professionals and equity analysts talk about in their spare time? Recently, the Bloomberg website featured a debate about something that is getting a lot of attention recently: the historically high, and still-rising U.S. stock market valuations. People have been willing to pay more, and more, and more for […]
Chances are, the market barometer you most often hear about is the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Every evening, the Dow’s ups or downs are soberly reported as if they reflect something important. They don’t. A recent online article noted that the 37-year-old index only reflects the performance of 30 U.S. multinational companies, and it doesn’t […]
2017 Second Quarter Report The U.S. stock market has more than tripled in value during the runup that started in March 2009, and the most recent quarter somehow managed to accelerate the upward trend. We have just experienced the third-best first half, in terms of U.S. market returns, of the 2000s. The Wilshire 5000 Total […]
One candidate for the greatest bull market run in financial history is the recent runup in price of the Bitcoin—the crypto-currency favored by international arms dealers and drug cartels, but also gaining acceptance at some retail locations. The so-called “internet of money” is not backed by any government, which its promoters say is a good […]
Are we in the late stages of a bull market—that time when the market suddenly takes off like a rocket for no apparent reason? Over the last eight years, the S&P 500 index has returned more than 300% But the tail end of this run seems to have accelerated the trend. The first quarter of […]
The current bull market in stocks will reach its 8th anniversary tomorrow, and for about the last four years, professional investors and financial planners have been scratching their heads. The markets have gone up and up and up, and we all know that they won’t go up forever, which means there’s a correction looming somewhere […]
President Trump’s Unlikely Victory With the election of President Donald Trump, you are advised to prepare for a wild ride in the investment markets; indeed, the markets are already turning sharply negative due to the uncertainties ahead. Will the new President really build an expensive wall across our Southern border? Will he introduce legislation that […]
Whither Brexit? More than three months after British voters elected to extricate their economy from the European Union, Brexit still hasn’t actually happened. What’s going on? Apparently nothing more than a careful process designed to minimize damage on both sides of the English Channel. British Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced a target of late […]
