Much like the Las Vegas Hotel on the Strip that appears to be right next door, investors are discovering in 2024 that interest rate cuts are farther away than they seem.
With the exception of MLPs, securities markets continued to deliver robust gains across the board in December as the markets began to divine measurable rate cuts by the Fed in 2024.
Sometimes, investors over-complicate the investment process. It’s important to remember to start with the long-term returns shown by markets and compare them to the shorter-term experience.
Most investors have been caught flat-footed and under-exposed to stocks. More and more stocks, sectors and industries are breaking 2-year downtrends with fundamentals positively inflecting after a tough few years of rolling recessions and slowdowns.
Most investors have been caught flat-footed and under-exposed to stocks. More and more stocks, sectors and industries are breaking 2-year downtrends with fundamentals positively inflecting after a tough few years of rolling recessions and slowdowns.
There are many ways to track consumer and investor sentiment. Generally, only at extremes does the data offer very compelling investment opportunities.
In my opinion, true active strategies have a very important role in portfolios as complements to passive, cheap beta. Advisors need to understand what they own.
October was marked by continued volatility across fixed income and equity markets as investors faced various challenges, including persistent inflation concerns, rising yields, tightening monetary policy, and the backdrop of a U.S. Presidential election.
As an investor, it’s nice to know what we should expect from President Trump, because we have seen the movie before in 2017 – 2021. Apart from the early part of the Pandemic period, the economy and stock markets generally performed well.
Remember, our investment in stocks is a De facto vote of confidence on the economies in which we invest. Earnings, revenue, margins, free cash flow, and the growth of these important metrics is what drives stocks up or down over time.
The discretionary sector struggled as did all growth and quality-oriented areas of the market in 2022. That was a classic re-set and a raging opportunity to add exposure.