Category: Weekly Investment Update

The market predictions for 2017 are out. One of our resolutions for each year should be to remind ourselves to take these exciting forecasts with a grain of salt. For an example of the lack of value in these calendar year predictions, one need look back just eight years to the beginning of 2008. The […]

The first four trading days of January got the market off to a good start for the year and the January Barometer followers are again touting the success of their indicator. Proponents claim since 1950, the direction of the market for the year has been predicted by the direction of the market during the month […]

When the Federal Estate Tax exemption amount rose above the old $600,000 per person level (the 2017 exemption amount will be $5.49 million per person), many individuals erroneously decided revocable trusts were no longer necessary in their estate plans. There are many reasons not related to estate taxes for considering a revocable living trust in […]

In the interesting but useless facts category, we have the following: “Santa Claus tends to come to Wall Street nearly every year, bringing a short, sweet, respectable rally within the last five days of the year and the first two in January. This has been good for an average 1.4% gain since 1969 (1.4% since […]

One of the financial writers I follow began his Wednesday afternoon post with the headline, “The Fed didn’t tighten today”. Scott Grannis, retired economist and financial professional, summarized current interest rates and the Fed’s long awaited rate decision better than I can: The Fed increased its target short-term interest rate today to 0.75%, but that […]

The S&P 500 price return as of December 9 was up 5.6% since the election and 10.55% for the year to date. The yield on the 10-Year Treasury also rose again last week finishing at 2.46%. The week ahead will be busy and includes the Fed’s FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. We remain focused […]

Stocks ended modestly lower last week, ending their three week winning streak. The 10-Year Treasury extended its streak of higher yields to four weeks, closing at a yield of 2.39%. Higher rates are beginning to affect the prices of interest rate sensitive stocks. Traders bid the price of oil back over $52 after news of […]

Stocks, as measured by the S&P 500, were up another 1.45% last week. The yield on the benchmark 10-Year Treasury also continued higher and was up four basis points to 2.37%. Rising stock prices and declining bond prices (higher interest rates) is generally the norm. In a free market, economic expansion leads to increased demand […]

Albert Einstein called compound interest the eighth wonder of the world. I cannot find any mention of him commenting on dollar cost averaging but even if it does not rank as the ninth wonder, it is definitely worth a day trip in your financial travels. Dollar cost averaging is the investment technique of buying a […]

“We’ve long felt that the only value of stock forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good.” This Warren Buffett observation came to mind again last week when the market failed to crash when voters elected Donald Trump president of the United States. This is the second time in five months market tea leaf readers […]