If you’re looking to invest in S&P 500 stocks but don’t have the temperament to sift through and analyze the financial fundamentals of 500 individual companies, an S&P 500 index fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) can help you gain exposure to all those stocks—without the grueling analysis. The S&P 500 Index tracks the largest and […]
Read MoreStock futures fell Monday morning as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate earnings results, economic data and a Federal Reserve monetary policy-setting meeting after an already volatile stretch of trading. Contracts on the S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq fell during pre-market trading. As of Friday’s close, the S&P 500 was off 8.3% […]
Read MoreEveryone that invests over a long period of time will be forced to deal with some extremely difficult market cycles. The great certainty of the market is that there will be bull and bear cycles, but every cycle plays out differently and creates a new menu of challenges and frustrations. The current market correction is […]
Read MoreStocks are in a risk-off mood six trading days into the New Year for a multitude of reasons, prompting one veteran strategist to issue a blunt warning to over-enthused investors. “We have never seen equities priced quite this high. The adjusted price to earnings ratio is pushing up against 40 times. The last time we […]
Read MoreMonday, January 10, 2022 We have learned a few important things early on in 2022. First, this may truly be the year of the NFT (non-fungible tokens) after rising out of nowhere in 2021. The market ferociously boosted the valuation of dying retailer GameStop late last week on speculation it would make a full-throated attempt […]
Read MoreWarren Buffett saw inflation coming early on — 8 tips to help you come out ahead Rising prices and uncertainty about how long they’ll last are putting Americans in a bad mood. Inflation was worse than expected in November, with consumer prices soaring 6.8% from a year ago. That inflation rate was the steepest in […]
Read More(Bloomberg) — Stocks could face a “slow, laborious” decline in 2022 as a result of a more hawkish Federal Reserve that may raise interest rates four times, according to Dennis Gartman. The University of Akron Endowment Chairman said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio Monday that stocks could trade 10% to 15% lower this year. […]
Read MoreMany folks will tell you the stock market looks expensive. And they’re not exactly wrong. The S&P 500’s forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio – the index divided by the estimated next-12 months’ earnings – is historically high at about 21.2, according to FactSet. This is significantly above its 5-year average of 18.5 and 10-year average of […]
Read More(Bloomberg) — Amid all the celebration of a rousing year-end in stocks, Doug Ramsey has a sobering observation about a situation below the market’s surface. Last week, when the S&P 500 closed at a 52-week high, 334 companies trading on the New York Stock Exchange hit a 52-week low, more than double the amount that […]
Read MoreWhen 2021 comes to its finale, it will be remembered as a solid year for stocks that represented more of a bull than a bear market. The benchmark S&P 500 had more than doubled (+24%) its average annual total return of 11% over the 40 years. But for cryptocurrencies, things were more than solid – […]
Read MoreThe New York Stock Exchange lit up in Christmas colors. Bryan R. Smith / AFP via Getty Images Is it Santa or merely rational exuberance? With the possibility of a record spike in Covid-19 looming, the S&P 500 index nevertheless headed into the Christmas weekend with a record of its own. And even stocks that […]
Read More(Bloomberg) — Buying after a plunge, a trade rewarded virtually every time stocks pulled back in 2021, is facing a big challenge. Down hard for a second day Monday, the S&P 500 has now posted back-to-back, 1%-plus swoons twice in the past month, something it has mostly avoided doing before. It’s a worrying departure from […]
Read MoreThe U.S. Federal Reserve building. DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images The stock market is tumbling Friday, something it can’t seem to stop doing recently. It isn’t just the Federal Reserve’s latest policy signals causing volatility, though that’s at the heart of the issue. Since the beginning of November, the S&P 500 has been essentially flat. […]
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