Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know
The investing book of the 21st century so far is the 2020 book by Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy, Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, documenting that the world is getting healthier, wealthier, longer-lived, less violent and cleaner. The authors have now...
Mid Year Report
As America continued to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in the first half of 2021, the U.S. economy and the stock markets made significant progress.The ValueAligned Model Portfolio ("VAP") is up +16.10% for 2021 as of Friday July 2, 2021. The S&P 500 Index is...
Can Washington Raise Wages?
The government can mandate higher wages through minimum wage laws and can temporarily increase demand for workers above supply forcing smaller companies to compete with larger companies by bidding up wages. But they are targeting the wrong measure because just like in...
TRANSITORY INFLATION?
The ValueAligned Model Portfolio ("VAP") is up +11.4% for 2021 as of Thursday May 20, 2021. The S&P 500 Index is +11.4%. The broader market bounced back nicely yesterday following the past week's selling. Tech stocks were particularly strong, with the S&P...
Inflation? Ask real Businesses
The Federal Reserve says we will see inflation but it is "transitory". Congress does not even mention inflation even though it is the most regressive tax out there. But if you want to know the real deal ask real operating businesses and their operators. In the quote...
Four Reasons The Future Looks Bright For The Bulls
“I look to the future because that’s where I’m going to spend the rest of my life.” —George Burns The stock market is now up more than 11% in 2021, but we could have a normal 15% or so drop at anytime. Here are four bullish statistics that Ryan Detrick, chief market...
2021 saw more inflows to stocks than the past 12 years combined
Money flowing to stocks globally in just the past five months ($576 billion) has exceeded the inflow seen over the prior 12 years by well over $100 billion, according to data from Bank of America Global Research.Why it matters: It's further evidence that the sea...
The Unknowability Of The Apocalypse Du Jour Versus The Soundness Of The Investor’s Long-Term Plan
This time last year, the World Health Organization recently had declared that the spread of Covid-19 constituted a worldwide pandemic. The U.S. took stringent measures to slow the spread of Covid and "flatten the curve." Remember that? The lockdowns and...
The smart money is record ‘short’ in stocks, and the dumb money is record ‘long’
Speculators are record long, and commercial hedgers are record short. That potentially dangerous constellation is partially disarmed by a much less bearish, larger-scope sentiment picture. The S&P 500 stalled and corrected at peak optimism around 2,400, which has...
Thinking About Reallocating To Bonds? Don’t.
And bonds are not the place to be these days. Can you believe that the income recently available from a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond – the yield was 0.93% at yearend – had fallen 94% from the 15.8% yield available in September 1981? In certain large and important...