Every time the US stock market gets heavier, the Wall Street marketing machine kicks into high gear. The cycle returns to a favorite narrative: geographic diversification. Retail investors are urged to ditch their concentrated domestic stocks and buy single-country ETFs to capture untapped and uncorrelated growth cycles abroad. More Barchart news There is no crystal…
A version of this article first appeared on TKer.co Market skeptics and commentators on social media will watch a single variable move in a way they consider unfavorable and then conclude that the stock market is in trouble. Maybe the market will eventually move as they predicted. Sometimes that happens. But markets are complicated and…
As a parent, one thing I often try to emphasize to my children is the importance of hard work. Study a little for a test and you might get a 95. Study more and you might get a 100 instead. I’m also no stranger to hard work. There’s a reason I spend 40 hours or…
Could investing in the stock market right the course of Social Security? A new report from the Center for Retirement Research crunched the numbers. Spoiler alert: probably not. Social Security reserves are on track to reach a critical tipping point in about seven years. At that time, if no adjustments are made, the benefit program…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has a plan to allow people to trade stocks on the blockchain, buying and selling them as cryptocurrencies. Investor Michael Burry, “Big Short,” is not happy about that, to say the least. Must read “We may be headed straight toward a Snow Crash cyberpunk future,” Burry said this week…
Something incredibly contradictory is afoot: Major stock indexes are falling, red screens are multiplying, but the CBOE Volatility Index ($VIX) and, by extension, long-volatility ETFs like VXX and VIXY, are actually holding steady or falling. According to classic market logic, when stocks go down, the VIX is supposed to go up. When that relationship breaks…
Several things have to happen to set the stage for a summer stock market correction, warned Deutsche Bank strategist Henry Allen. The analysis: To achieve a more pronounced stock sell-off, Allen said, past experience has shown that at least one of the following factors would be needed: A sustained oil shock (or at least valued…
The Covid-19 pandemic, which consumed every moment of our waking days and claimed more than a million lives in the United States alone, had a unique impact on financial markets. One that, in my opinion, is here to stay. It was not the pandemic itself, but the double whammy of loose monetary conditions and an…
The S&P 500’s (^GSPC) record run has some bumps in it that appear to be increasing. On Friday, the S&P 500 closed 7.7% above its 50-day moving average, but only 52% of its constituents closed above their own 50-day moving average, BTIG strategist Jonathan Krinsky noted in a new note. Over the past 30 years,…
US stocks have made an impressive turnaround since the Iran war shaved 9% off their value. S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) earlier this year. But given that the war is not over and oil prices are still above $100 a barrel, it could be giving investors some cause for concern. While I think that’s fair, there…
