Higher interest rates are not only hitting stock and bond markets, they are also hurting the housing market. Thirty-year fixed mortgage rates are off the recent high of six percent, but mortgage applications are plunging, consistent with an outright collapse in sales...
While earnings growth has held up (analysts still project 10.4% growth in calendar 2022 according to FactSet), it hasn’t been enough to offset the collapse in valuations. Are valuations now cheap enough to attract persistent buying and end this bear market? Probably...
This year is the worst bond market we have seen in 30 years. And April was the worst month ever for bonds. 60/40 balanced investors could be down double digits YTD (based on common benchmarks) unless they have strategically positioned themselves to avoid some of the...
Not long after Vladimir Lenin returned from exile in Switzerland to lead the Russian revolution in 1917, he was credited with saying, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” The current Russia-Ukraine war isn’t even three...
The sharp drop in share prices last Friday was attributed to the expected invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Although that prospect is a disturbing geopolitical event, any U.S. stock market reaction is likely to be limited and short-lived. The U.S. stock market typically...
The S&P 500 may be only 5% below its all-time high (the NASDAQ, 10%), but the average stock is doing much worse. For example, the average stock in the Russell 3000 (a broader index than the S&P 500 that includes mid and small caps) is down 27% from its high,...
