After a strong bull run from 2009 to 2017 it’s prudent to consider these two questions… #1. What if the market stalls out, and becomes range bound for 20 years? It’s happened before. Below you’ll find a monthly chart of such a period. #2. How can you stay with the current trend, without getting caught…
In just the past year, the markets set a record by going 12 straight months without a loss. That liquidity driven surge was accompanied by extremely low volatility as noted last week by Dana Lyons: “Specifically, the average daily closing price of the VIX in 2017 was 11.10 (through 12/26/17). That is the lowest of…
As international investing delighted all and sundry in 2017, the Japanese stock market was on a stellar ride leading equities back to heights last seen in 1991. Both the Topix and the Nikkei climbed more than 19% for the year with the former capping the best annual performance since 2013. The rally was driven by…
Here we are at the end of 2017, a year that saw Donald Trump ascend to the highest office in the land and a year that saw financial assets the world over continue to inflate on the back of trillions in central bank liquidity. This was also the year of the cryptocurrency and the year…
In the last week of the year, the US dollar succumbed to broad selling pressure. Nearly all the major currencies appreciated by at least one percent against the dollar, save the Japanese yen, which gained about 0.6%. There did not seem to be a macro spark for the sell-off. Ironically, the consensus appears to be…
Investors in large cap stocks can be pretty satisfied with their returns in 2017. In fact, the Russell 1000 index, which represents about 1,000 of the largest companies in the U.S. stock markets, has appreciated 19.34% in 2017, besides approximately 1.73% in dividend yield. In this article, I will show the best and the worst…
Below are the final total return numbers in 2017 for various asset classes using our key ETF matrix .Use our Trend Analyzer tool to monitor our proprietary Trend and Timing ratings for each of the ETFs shown (plus every stock in the S&P 500, Dow 30, and Nasdaq 100). While the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) was the worst…
Bitcoin’s price rise in 2017 has been stunning. For an asset linked to no tangible value, the increase in price from $998 on January 1 2017 to hitting a high of $19,497 on December 16 was more than just eye-popping. It created a tangible bitcoin effect on economic growth that, at least in Japan, translates into…
While silver investors continue to be discouraged about the low price, the market has experienced a fundamental change that needs to be understood. Ever since governments removed silver from official coinage, over 50 years ago, the market has been supplemented by several billion ounces of silver. The majority of that supply has been depleted. The…
