The World of technology has changed. It’s ever evolving cycle has now in fact changed the World. I, for one try to embrace the advances which happen at an alarming rate. In my 50’s, the only disappointments I hold are the fact we are all not flying around like the Jetson’s, and 3D glasses at the movies still suck. It is imperative that we all try to keep up with these changes to remain competitive, and valid in our existence. Jobs, careers, and Industries have been streamlined and even wiped out, as we make way for the modern World.   The technological revolution in the Capital Markets has been devastating. Much like automated tellers and checkout lanes, the roles of an Equity Trader have been surpassed by the abilities of intelligent mathematicians and their aptitude to apply their skills to take advantage of Markets with lightning quick speed. I use this only as an example because I am, or perhaps was an Equity Trader. Flash crashes are real-keep that in mind!    The dependence of algorithmic programming on Trading desks has, and continues to reach ultimate capacity. To give credit where due, the individuals who create the programs have worked hard to achieve their goals, and in some ways have led to liquidity. Unfortunately, the “auto-pilot” use of program trading has brought us to an extremely unfair playing field for other investors.    As I write this, all Major Markets have been reaching record highs on a daily basis. This […]

    We have expected the stock market to have suffered 20% corrections over the past three years each time to be followed by returns to the upside, they did not occur. Those normal corrections  would have prevented the stock market from its current extremely high overall valuation. More importantly, harsh corrections offer investors and institutions exceptional opportunities to accumulate shares at lower prices while they are “on sale.” The stage is now set for another brutal bear market. We do not want it to occur and we are not short sellers; we are studying various indicators and they strongly suggest caution. Near zero interest rates and QEing have been enablers supporting the stock market.  We have said many times, odd as it may seem, that bull markets do not end due to overvaluation. They end with interest rates rising sharply, often with a decline in the money supply or recession. But note well that dangerous market tops are usually accompanied by overvaluation and euphoria. Are we seeing that now?

What a Trump win means to the technology sector President-elect Trump may shake up things in more than the wall construction industry. As some of you may have noticed recently, executives from well-known companies such as Amazon, Netflix and Salesforce, to name but a few, were rather vocal about president-elect Donald Trump. He’s been known for his tremendous sense of humor, right? All right, so perhaps having even one of these industry leaders comparing him to certain historical dictator might have been a bit much.

Much to the dismay of Republicans, a surprising amount of press is given to the S&P 500’s performance under Democrat and Republican presidencies. But doesn’t Congress control the purse strings? Since 1945, whenever Republicans controlled both houses of Congress, the S&P 500 rose an average 13.3%, and gained in price in two out of every three years. Whenever the Democrats were in control of both houses, however, the S&P 500 gained an average of only 7.4%, but rose in price a more consistent 73% of the time.