Mark Twain once said “History doesn’t repeat itself – at best, it sometimes rhymes.”  I thought of that when studying this chart, which clearly shows that September has historically been the worst month of the year for the stock market, averaging the years since 1950.  The message to investors is “brace yourself for another stomach-churning … Continue reading The Rules. . . they’re a’changing

What could be wrong with this stock?  Revenues are down, and it lost $369 million for the first six months of this year.  The founder received a pardon from the President of the United States years ago, and even worse, some investment pros think it poses a systemic risk to entire world financial system. Yet, … Continue reading What Could Go Wrong ??

Colin Kaepernick is another rich NFL quarterback, who wears a football uniform for the San Francisco Forty-Niners.  Last week, he chose not to show the basic courtesy of standing for the national anthem, as a protest against continuing racial injustice in America. Dear Mr. Kaepernick, Often attributed to Voltaire in error, it is nonetheless true … Continue reading Open Letter to Colin Kaepernick

Cartoons can simply entertain the kids when we don’t want to be bothered.  Or, cartoons can actually teach us something.  Here is one of the latter: This cartoon shows a bear market on the left and a bull market on the right.  The bulls have small gold rings in their nose, while the bear has … Continue reading Cartoon Wisdom?

In 2009, ABC News presented some interesting research into the relative dental health of different sections of the country.  They found the worst dental health in America was in the Appalachian region.  This poor state of dental health is primarily due to a condition called “Mountain Dew Mouth,” a result of too many sugary drinks … Continue reading Mandatory Loyalty

It is hard to defend an obsession, any obsession.  Wall Street is obsessed with the Fed raising interest rates.  They will be glued to the television tomorrow when Janet Yellen speaks at the Fed’s summer retreat in Jackson Hole.  Everybody knows that rates have to increase, but why first and then when.If you are a borrower, … Continue reading Much Ado About Nothing

Republicans like to believe that journalists are closet-liberals, and I suspect there is some truth to that.  They also like to believe that professors are closet-liberals, and, with notable exceptions, there may be some truth to that as well.  But, I’m not aware of any similar sweeping generalizations about economists. There are two main trade … Continue reading Biased Geeks ?

Luckily, I grew up on the beaches of Virginia Beach.  My perception of reality was an endless loop of Beach Blanket Bingo movies with Annette Funicello.  It was a pleasant perception of reality, indeed! A generation before me, Ed Shames was born in 1922 in Virginia Beach and also enjoyed being outdoors as he grew up … Continue reading A Real Local Legend

Some people think of their financial advisors as just that — someone to discuss and “brainstorm” financial matters.  Some people think of us as someone to delegate and perform financial duties.  Some people think of us as economic or financial wizards to manage their investments.  I think we are paid to worry.  (Years ago, a … Continue reading Insuring A 77% Loss

Bullying is getting the condemnation that it deserves.  Saying hurtful things to some poor kid is simply wrong.  Yet, saying hurtful things about some government official is somehow viewed as patriotic. Hurtful and ignorant things are said about the Fed every day.  The stock market obsesses over every word and comma in Fed minutes.  Now, … Continue reading Fed-Bullies

Arianna Huffington is a highly successful businesswoman and founder of The Huffington Post.  Therefore, I assumed she was just another political hack and not worth reading.  Then, I read a review of her new book entitled The Sleep Revolution and decided to buy it.  I recommend you do the same. Everybody knows sleep is important, but … Continue reading Wise Advice From The Left

Our government can shape our economy with both monetary policy and fiscal policy.  Monetary policy is controlled by the Fed and is concerned with interest rates, changes in the money supply, management of its huge portfolio of Treasury debt, and so forth.  Fiscal policy is controlled by Congress primarily and the President secondarily.  It includes … Continue reading We Deserve Better

Probably, before the first investment strategist was ever born, investors were asking if the stock market was over-priced and headed for a collapse.  Today, the most common response is in terms of the price-earnings (PE) ratio.  It is the same as the PE ratio for individual stocks.  You take the market price of the stock … Continue reading The TINA Effect

The August projections from the august and imperial Goldman Sachs (GS) are as follows: 1.  GDP growth remains stable in the U.S., rising from 1.9% this year to only 2.0% by 2018.  (I’m guessing they expect a Clinton victory and a continuation of current economic policies.) 2.  In Japan, it rises from 0.4% this year … Continue reading August All Twelve Months

When President Kennedy cut taxes, the economy boomed and the GDP grew nicely.  When President Reagan cut taxes, the economy boomed and the GDP grew nicely.  Since two dots make a line, does that mean that all tax cuts make the economy boom and GDP grow nicely?  If so, why didn’t the two Bush II … Continue reading Good Things Are Not Always Good

One of the smartest things my father ever taught me was the importance of being informed, especially about international affairs.  Of course, he had no way of knowing the burden of being over-informed would ever become so great, especially about politics. The smartest thing I’ve done this year is to put myself on a news-diet … Continue reading Great Advice!

Economists have been hard-pressed to find something they don’t like about yesterday’s “jobs report.”  I found two. Expecting 180 thousand jobs, America produced 255 thousand jobs in July.  This repeated the same happy surprise in the June jobs report.  Where is the recession?  Is the economy really as slow as indicated by the GDP reports … Continue reading Just Another Great “Jobs Report”

Mega-bank Wells Fargo does an excellent Small Business Survey each quarter, and I look forward to it.  The latest is interesting on two points. First, business confidence is now the highest since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9.  While they are accepting limited upside in revenue, they are keeping a tight rein on expenses.  (This … Continue reading The View From The Bottom

Long ago, farmers and ranchers learned that the easiest way to control cattle and other large livestock was to put a ring in their nose.  They could then tether the cattle to a particular location or lead them around by simply controlling the ring. The stock market has always had a ring in its nose. … Continue reading Following The Nose

Bob Doll is the highly-respected chief equity strategist at Nuveen Asset Managment.  In his commentary yesterday, he stated “a slowly growing economy, improving earnings, and low bond yields should provide a tailwind for U.S. equities.”  Despite the unexpectedly low 1.2% GDP growth in the second quarter, I agree with him. Yesterday, the equally-respected Jeff Gundlach … Continue reading On The Other Hand …

Last week, I wrote that the stock market would continue dancing as long as the band keeps playing the music — meaning there are few worrisome near-term danger signals to the stock market from either the economic or valuation standpoint, as long as the Fed remains “accommodative.” A friend and faithful reader told me that … Continue reading Timing Is Everything