The sharp and sudden selling pressure that characterized equity market action in December appears to have subsided in the new year – at least for now. In examining the causes of downside volatility, the most commonly cited reasons were fears of an escalated trade war with China, Fed tightening, and increasing chances of U.S. recession. […]
Apple, Inc. stunned Wall Street last week when the company issued a rare cut to its revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter – the first time it has slashed expectations in more than 15 years. Markets don’t like downward earnings revisions, and no exception was made for Apple. The stock fell some -10% in the […]
The S&P 500 appears to have stabilized slightly following the December rout that culminated with a day in bear market territory, on December 24th. [1] Though the depths of the selling pressure appear to be behind us for now, investors would be wise to stay mentally prepared for continued volatility in the weeks ahead. The […]
With every new day of equity market selling pressure, many investors are becoming increasingly concerned that maybe this is more than just a market correction. We’ve seen over $7 trillion wiped from global equity market cap from the peak in January, and as it appears today, we may encounter the rare outcome of having both […]
Investors are getting increasingly edgy and bearish as stock market volatility continues apace, which is actually having the opposite effect on me – it’s making me more bullish. In this week’s column I’ll explain why I feel that way, but first I’ll unpack some of the sentiment indicators ‘flashing pessimism.’ You can find evidence of […]
The S&P 500 has officially crossed over into correction territory[1], which is generally defined as a decline of -10% to -20% over a reasonably short period of time (few weeks to a few months). As I wrote last week, little has changed fundamentally over the past two weeks with regard to interest rate expectations, earnings […]
Volatility persists in the global stock market, but the media narratives haven’t changed much – it’s still, “fears of global slowdown, rising interest rates, flattening yield curve, and trade war with China” being most commonly cited as drivers of the selling pressure. These factors are driving uncertainty, but I’m still not convinced they are powerful […]
It’s been a “nowhere to hide” situation for investors over the last several weeks. If we look at the performance of 70 different types of asset classes from gold to bonds to oil to stocks, about 90% of them are down for the year through mid-November (negative total return in dollar terms). The last time […]
Technology stocks have felt a bigger impact from the recent downside volatility than the broad market (S&P 500). In the last three months through Wednesday (11/21), the S&P had declined -3.21% while the Nasdaq had fallen nearly twice that, at -6.9%.[1] These relative declines have investors worried that tech stocks are too overvalued, and that […]
It comes as a great relief to many – including the markets – that the midterm elections are almost over. I say ‘almost over’ because there are still key races in states like Florida and Georgia being contested, and there are still a few House races yet to be called. Whatever happens with those races […]
