In our last article we covered the Bubble in “Safe” Stocks, where investors are paying outrageously high multiples for companies that are believed to be more recession resistant such as consumer staples.  In this article I figured I’d cover a stock Mr. Market and the doom and gloom propagandists view to be “risky” based on...Read More

On Friday several of the big banks reported earnings that were exceptionally strong, highlighting their strength in times of turmoil.  I believe that much of hysteria we saw in March was manufactured panic to a large extent.  Several horribly managed banks were taken out by bank runs and the problems were extrapolated incorrectly to the...Read More

We are in the early weeks of earnings season, and overall, the results have been quite impressive.  The banking sector saw continued improvement in net interest margins, with credit normalizing a bit.  One must remember that we are coming off the most enormous stimulus package in history in 2020, which created the best credit environment...Read More

The stock market has reacted very negatively to Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish interest rate outlook, with the S&P declining by roughly 6% over the last 4 days.  Weaker economic data and declining commodity prices gave market participants hope that the Fed might pivot, pointing to less rate hikes, but Powell talked a tough game,...Read More

Equity and bond markets had a brutal week as today’s CPI report confirmed that inflation has accelerated to a 40-year high, which has traders speculating that the Fed will have to raise rates faster than expected.  In addition to that data, we saw the lowest Consumer Confidence number in the surveys history, which dates back...Read More

It’s that time of the quarter where we see what many of the biggest and most successful investors have been buying.  Needless to say, I was very pleased to see that Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway had bought sizable stakes into both Citigroup and Paramount, and a smaller stake in Ally Financial.  These are three...Read More

The Nasdaq is now officially in a bear market as defined by a 20% decline from the highs, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indices are in corrections, with losses greater than 10%.  The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the economic sanctions brought against Russia in response are a major deal for the global...Read More

In our last newsletter written on Friday, we wrote about just how much risk market participants are having to take to target a 7.5% return, mostly due to how low yields are on bonds.  The bailout has been that equity markets have performed exceptionally well, but of course now we are starting at valuations that...Read More

I hope everyone is holding up okay.  We’ve seen some encouraging employment numbers coming off those massive layoffs, but clearly the economy still has a lot of work to do to get close to recovering from where it was.  This month we should see a new stimulus bill negotiated, which will surely be very contentious. ...Read More

2020 has certainly been a tragedy of epic proportions on just about any level imaginable.  There is no sugarcoating that.  When you have tens of thousands of people dying from a new virus, and economies shut down across the world, it is tough to feel cheery, especially when you sprinkle in record unemployment.  The stock...Read More