In the last two months, I have had the pleasure of meeting with clients in a variety of different countries in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S. There is one issue that all of these clients are interested in: the U.S.-China trade conflict.
Comments Off on What’s standing in the way of a U.S.-China trade deal?Last week’s Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting proceeded largely as expected, but a very important development for stocks occurred during the follow-up press conference.
Comments Off on The Fed gives stocks free rein to run. Can the rally continue?
The Bank of Canada held the overnight rate at 1.75% at today’s meeting. While the result was widely expected, the tone of the statement, as well as the press conference, were more downbeat than anticipated.
Comments Off on Bank of Canada downgrades economic outlook
Last week was a “risk on” week for the markets, with stocks rising. The MSCI All Country World Index rose during the course of the week, the S&P 500 Index came close to its all-time high, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index surged a robust 1.9%.1 U.S. Treasury yields also rose as fear dissipated – the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.8% and the 30-year finished at 2.29%.1 By the end of last week, there was a relatively comfortable 18-point spread between the 2-year and the 10-year Treasury yield.1
Comments Off on Will this week’s data confirm last week’s optimism for stocks?
Over 10 years into an economic expansion, and with recession concerns moving to the forefront, many investors are asking whether it is too late to invest in small-cap stocks. Conventional wisdom says that small caps are hit harder in a recession than large caps, so if a recession is imminent, then one should not own small-cap stocks. But I believe this is the wrong question to ask. For investors who are concerned about small caps, I would note three things: Trying to time the market is generally a fool’s errand, small caps have delivered historical long-term outperformance, and small-cap valuations look attractive, in my view — especially in certain industries.
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Many people around the world observe Halloween in the month of October, celebrating all that is spooky and macabre. My kids have all been enthralled with Halloween, choosing their costumes several months in advance (one year, my older son insisted on wearing his costume every single day of the month of October). And plenty of adults who have outgrown trick-or-treat still believe that October would not be complete without horror movies running non-stop throughout the month. But no matter if you celebrate with cute kids’ costumes or elaborate haunted houses – what makes Halloween fun is the knowledge that the scares aren’t real.
Comments Off on Should investors be scared of a Halloween sell-off?
