November 15, 2020 Equities rallied on positive vaccine news and the S&P 500 finished this week +2.2%. News broke Monday that an early analysis of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine proved 90% effective in protecting people from COVID-19. A widely distributed and effective vaccine is the key catalyst many investors are looking for to ignite a post-pandemic economic recovery. Monday’s news...
Elections have consequences and tax policy is ever-evolving. Here’s what investors need to know about potential tax changes after the November election. Election Momentum Joe Biden’s chances of becoming the 46th president of the United States have risen to 87%, according to FiveThirtyEight’s latest projection. Meanwhile, PredictIt has the odds of Democrats sweeping the White House and Congress at 58%...
What do you get when you combine: alluring apps, extra free time, and zero trading commissions? A retail trading boom, of course. Citadel Securities estimates around 25% of stock trading this year is linked to retail investors, up from about 10% in 2019. Many of the trades occur in Robinhood accounts. Robinhood recently made news when it stopped openly sharing...
October 10, 2020 Apart from a sharp pullback the day President Trump (briefly) ended negotiations for a stimulus deal, U.S. stocks spent the week largely in positive territory. The S&P 500 rose 3%. This week’s positive momentum may reflect the fading odds of a contested election outcome. Biden's lead in national and swing state polls has been increasing in recent...
October 3, 2020 In what can only be described as a wild and emotionally-charged week, the S&P 500 still managed to advance +1.5%. The S&P 500 finished Q3 with a +8.5% gain. News of President Trump testing positive for coronavirus reverberated around the world Friday, shaking markets and casting more uncertainty on the election. The president reportedly has mild symptoms...
September 25, 2020 The S&P 500 declined 0.6% this week, with eight out of eleven sectors retreating. Computer and software stocks were a bright spot, rallying 2.2%, as money flowed back into equities considered ‘stay-at-home’ trades. Meanwhile, a Bloomberg basket of stocks geared to economic re-openings fell 5.3% in the week. The housing market continues to exhibit positive momentum. On...
September 18, 2020 The S&P 500 Index declined 0.6% this week, while the U.S. dollar rallied and bonds were basically flat. Mega-cap tech shares continue to see profit taking. The NYSE FANG+ Index is down over -10% this month, after rising +21% in August and +14% in July. Under the surface, there was more evidence of capital rotation favoring cyclical...
September 11, 2020 Volatility tends to happen in clusters, and this week extended the wobbliness that emerged last week. Mega-cap tech shares fell on Friday for the sixth time in seven days, while global equities saw the first back-to-back weekly decline since March. Little-to-no progress in Washington for securing another round of stimulus weighed on sentiment. Now that stocks like...
September 5, 2020 Just as investors were feeling good about five consecutive months of steady gains, the stock market dealt a late-week reality check. Tech led the way down, with the Nasdaq recording its worst week since March. The S&P 500 ended the week -2.3% lower, the Dow fell -1.8% and the Nasdaq declined almost -4%. European and Asian equity...
It’s no secret Apple is on a roll. Still, the numbers are staggering. The iPhone maker’s shares have risen 57% year-to-date, making Apple Inc. worth just under $2 trillion. Allegations of unfair and anti-competitive actions have surfaced in a lawsuit against Apple by Epic Games. In the filing, the plaintiff asserts Apple Inc. “is bigger, more powerful, more entrenched, and...
Are we living in Tech Bubble Version 2.0? At this point, three stocks—Apple, Amazon and Microsoft—comprise about 16% of the S&P 500 and a third of the Nasdaq 100. Their combined value of $5 trillion is bigger than Germany’s entire economy. And the last time the “Big 3” were this expensive relative to free cash flow was during Tech Bubble...
Zoom Video Communications (ZM) is one of the hottest stocks of 2020. Most conventional ‘value’ investors have missed it, of course. They usually pass on high-growth names, preferring stocks with cheaper valuations. Don’t make this mistake. In a portfolio, the forest is more important than the trees. Using that prism, Zoom may offer investors the best of both worlds: hyper...