Being a contrarian investor can mean a few different things. To some, contrarian investing is correlated with value investing, and I think that makes sense in a lot of ways. For one thing, being a contrarian means recognizing that all price trends – up or down – are finite in length and duration. That means […]
Read MoreIf you’re like me, you’re undoubtedly getting tired of the seemingly endless discussion and examination of COVID-19. Latest infection numbers, speculation about vaccine development progress, whether governments will reimpose restrictions or mandate common sense measures like wearing masks in public – let’s face it, it gets tiresome to be confronted with what appears to be […]
Read MoreIn the last couple of weeks the market seems to have been trying to resolve the contradiction of the world we’re in right now. State governments began lifting COVID-19-induced restrictions in order to restart economic activity, which gave investors reason to start being optimistic again, but even as we are seeing progress in terms of […]
Read MoreIn the last three months since the market hit a bear-market bottom, we’ve seen a number of stocks rally from extreme lows to new highs. A lot of the buzz is around companies that facilitate work-from-home business operating models or encourage other activities that make self-isolation and the social restrictions associated with living through a […]
Read MoreAs questions continue to loom about the continued progression of COVID-19 in the United States – and to what extent it may blunt any progress made in the last month or so from the standpoint of economic recovery – it’s pretty easy to give in to the fear that new restrictions may have to be […]
Read MoreClosing out a quarter, and moving into a new one, often prompts talking heads and analysts to look back and find the storylines that carried the market over the last few months. In a pandemic world, the narrative doesn’t really stray too far away from COVID-19 and the impact it continues to have, both from […]
Read MoreEver since the coronavirus pandemic reached North American shores, investors have keyed on the virus more than any other issue in driving market direction. Nationwide shutdown and self-isolation orders brought the U.S. economy to a grinding halt in late February and forced the market to visit bear market lows by mid-March. Hopes that the worst […]
Read MoreSpikes in COVID-19 infections across the country have put the market on uneven footing in the last couple of weeks, with the major indices coming off of their most recent highs and sparking concern that a broader pullback, or more alarming, a fresh new correction could be looming. That uncertainty has been enough to push […]
Read MoreOver the last several years, one of the biggest benchmarks the Fed has used to evaluate the need to raise, lower or maintain their interest rate policy has been the employment rate. Every month, the market seems to hold its breath as a new set of unemployment and salary data is made available and everybody […]
Read MoreAs an analyst, I take a lot of interest in trying to find reasons the market stages some of the moves it makes. The factors, geopolitical, economic, or emotional, that drives trends over any time period can be widely varied, and sometimes it’s interesting to see not only what is influencing the market today, but […]
Read MoreSurveying the stock market right now is an interesting mix of contradictions. It seems that with very few exceptions, every industry in almost every sector has had to absorb some kind of impact from the global pandemic that forced governments to shutter their economies and issue shelter-in-place orders through most of the second quarter of […]
Read MoreThe U.S. economy could be starting to find its footing again. While unemployment as a total number remains high, it does appear to be flattening nationally, and has even starting to drop in a number of states. COVID-19 isn’t going away – in fact, if the weekend’s reports are accurate, I think that we are […]
Read MoreIn my search for value, I’ve found it useful to develop a watchlist of stocks that I can check on a regular basis. That means that I often recycle stocks that I’ve previously used to make useful investments in, but don’t currently have a position in. That’s useful, because the familiarity that comes with the […]
Read MoreNo matter what current market conditions are at any given time, the point of value-oriented investing is to find stocks that offer attractive long-term upside. For my approach, that means using a combination of valuation, fundamental strength, and technical analysis to filter through the thousands of stocks that are available. With investors seemingly anxious to […]
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