RichC | July 19, 2021
If you are an investor or long term education and retirement saver, you’re feeling the pain today as the coronavirus Delta variant spread could impact the economic recovery. U.S. stocks, oil prices and government bond yields slid Monday as anxiety mounted over the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant and its potential impact on the […]
RichC | March 11, 2020
Although I suspect all the selling on Wall Street has to do with needed cash or the “sell and re-assess later” attitude, I’ve been puzzled that gold (usual safe haven) and utilities have been hit as well. Personally I thought these areas might balance exposure to industrials, tech and energy. Obviously not as Wednesday’s market […]
RichC | January 11, 2020
Forgive me for being a bit redundant in worrying (again) about the hot tech stocks like Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA) and Netflix (NFLX) among others as the Dow Jones Industrial Average flirts with 29,000 in mid-January 2020 (even a broken clock is right twice a day! ― Marie von […]
RichC | August 5, 2019
Monday, August 5th, 2019 was not a good day to be long in the stock markets – WSJ update. I think we are often too complacent with investing and fall victim to the “stay the course” and invest for long run mentality. It is easy to forget just how painful market drops can be. Economist […]
RichC | July 11, 2018
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RichC | June 21, 2018
After 8 down days for the Dow, the beginning of summer has not been kind to investors hoping 2018 would be a bit more positive. With unemployment at near all time lows, corporate tax cuts, the economy rebounding and promising better wages … and even talks with North Korea going well, one would think optimism […]
RichC | March 22, 2018
It doesn’t get much uglier for investing than inching closer to a full blown trade war with China (and others) … and the financial markets aren’t taking it well as they are not in or very near correction territory – perhaps the Fed can go easier on rate hikes? President Trump followed through on signing […]
RichC | March 5, 2018
After President Trump’s bombshell about placing tariffs on US imported steel and aluminum last week (although he did suggest it during his campaign for president), comments made later made it sound like cooler heads may prevail — that … and the fact that many of President Trump’s advisors remained quiet or gingerly disagree. Speaker Paul […]
RichC | February 23, 2018
New "old" reading this week as I picked up "The Little Book of Value Investing" by Christopher H. Browne. The information is something I should know more thoroughly than I do and the reading is relatively easy as value investing is a time tested concept proven over the years by investor gurus like Benjamin Graham […]
RichC | February 8, 2018
So much for the "good news" that tax cuts will eventually providing revenue by helping the economy grow. The "hope" is that over time the economy growing will put more people to work (it is) and that the snowball would eventually grow paychecks (it is) AND that we could begin to reduce our country’s yearly […]
RichC | February 5, 2018
Well, well, well … perhaps this is the correction many watching the financial markets have been looking for as a 4.6% drop on the DOW in a day is a rather large one. It was another day of selling on Wall Street helped by computerized programmed trading and likely the relatively new ETF broad based […]
RichC | December 18, 2017
While waiting for the predicted Tuesday vote on the GOP Tax Plan that has been anticipated ALL year, it is looking like it might actually get done in 2017. It has not been easy or as simple as many of us wanted “Tax Reform,” but the corporate tax cut will make the U.S. more competitive […]
RichC | December 15, 2017
Another record high on Wall Street as once again the financial markets believe the Republicans in congress will finally get promised tax reform across the finish line. Even if Democrats see some benefits (many agree US corporate taxes are too high) they haven’t contributed in the GOP plan; they likely will continue to oppose anything […]
RichC | October 28, 2017
A rocking bunch of positive earning from tech companies push companies like Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft, Intel and even Twitter higher. Although some financial analysts are recycling the “irrational exuberance” term, the excellent quarterly financial numbers are actually a reason for a positive attitude. I’m still nervous as to all the unknown surprises […]
RichC | October 17, 2017
It’s just a number, but one that is reminiscent of the Greenspan “irrational exuberance” days back in the late 1990s during the dot-com bubble … but the business news media types cheered the mid-day number (yet to see where the market will close). One has to chuckle at as to just how wrong a Nobel […]
RichC | October 13, 2017
The early 1980s were challenging as manufacturing headed overseas, inflation ate up the buying power of every dollar and the cost to borrow was at an all time high. In fact, Brenda and I were giddy to have acquired a 12% mortgage on our first house in 1982 because our friends were applying for new […]
RichC | August 19, 2017
Although the news of late on the political front has been challenging (Trump Admin, Barcelona, Charlottesville, North Korea) the savvy investor/trader can use these moments to put the "risk capital" part of their portfolio to good use. Most who trade have plenty of horror stories where their trades have gone terribly wrong, but usually the […]
RichC | August 10, 2017
With the tension rising between the U.S. and North Korea over nuclear weapons, the broad financial markets headed lower today for the first time in a while (or so it seemed). The often cited DJIA closed down 204.69 or about 1% while the Nasdaq doubled that move at 2% down. Even though the tone was […]
RichC | May 21, 2017
LINK to WSJ article
RichC | April 27, 2017
Once a cloud-computing software security darling, FireEye has taken it on the chin and then some. Concerns still abound, but from most accounts, a bottom in stock price may have been found. It is particularly encouraging that Goldman’s Gabriela Borges, a software security analyst, has issued a “buy” recommendation and believes the stock will rally 18% […]
RichC | January 8, 2016
The financial markets took another slide this Friday afternoon even after “impressive” job numbers were released this morning. Growth was well above expectations showing 292,00 jobs were created in December 2015. This came as a mixed message for investors as they needed something to stimulate their interest in buying stocks … unfortunately many came away […]
RichC | January 8, 2016
January 2016 has not given investors an optimistic start as stocks sold off for another day on Thursday. The slide gives the Dow its worst start to begin a year since the 30-stock index was created in 1928. Fingers are pointing to economic woes and government financial manipulation in China as well as world oil […]
RichC | June 5, 2015
The jobs numbers were relatively positive considering the weak growth earlier this year, but still concerning in that the post-recession job growth is not was is normally expected after a recession. Still, one positive is that we are not facing inflation or seeing numbers that would indicate the U.S. is slipping back into a recession. […]
RichC | May 6, 2015
Equity markets are struggling to make any positive headway this month as each time there is a sliver of optimism that the economy will improve, another round of negativity takes the wind out of sails. Wednesday, after what looked like a positive start to the trading day, a “triple whammy of a pullback in energy […]
RichC | October 31, 2014
A big morning for stocks as global markets celebrate Japan expands their stimulus. The DOW hit an all-time intraday high as giddy investors bought blue chip equities expecting the economy to continue to grow. The good news of better corporate profits and the Federal Reserve’s finalizing their stimulus makes Wall Street feel good … BUT […]
RichC | November 15, 2013
The U.S. stock market powered forward again today with the expectation that Janet Yellen will continue the easy money policies as head of the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (chart above) has investors cheering even as recent bumps attempted to derail the anemic jobless recovery. I doubt the party can continue forever, but […]
RichC | March 5, 2013
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged Tuesday to its highest closing level ever jumping 125.95 points to finish above the previous record of 14164.53 set on Oct. 9, 2007. The low was a year and a half later bottoming out at 6547.05 on March 9, 2009. For those holding or buying “long” and in the […]
RichC | November 15, 2011
The news from Europe and lackluster leadership in Washington DC continued to dampen investors hopes that we might see a rebound in both jobs and economy, but for today the markets closed up after an early down move today. The Dow was up 17 points, S&P 500 about 6 and the Nasdaq an impressive 29 […]
RichC | October 23, 2011
The new CPI numbers (Consumer Price Index) released by the government verify what most balancing family budgets already know … inflation is taking a bigger bite out of incomes. Most private sector workers feel fortunate just to be employed and have seen their take-home pay and benefits stagnate or retreat. Everyone I know has had […]
RichC | October 17, 2011
By now most in America have at least acknowledged that there are legitimate protests movements in several cities including NYC; some protesting are anarchists and anti-American types looking to hijack any radical movement, but many are legitimately angry with the state of our nation, the partisanship that favors and bails out the Wall Street banks […]
RichC | August 15, 2011
We’ve started off the week in a more upbeat fashion as the expectations are high for some kind of deal on Tuesday from the Europeans. Hopefully they’ll be able to sooth the jitters many are having over banking and Eurozone’s socialist mentality. I’m not holding my breath that they’ll be able the make the social […]
RichC | August 9, 2011
Although I’m tiring of watching the fickle up and down action of the stock market … as are those who might stumble across my blog these couple of weeks … it is better to be able to say that the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished near session highs today. The 429.92 points – 3.98% gain […]
RichC | August 8, 2011
Oh to have had the wisdom of a Glenn Beck … and have listened to his analysis of how foolish it was to have believed in an economic recovery? He continued to recommend investing in gold as a safe haven from the upcoming financial meltdown. Of course one would think that as someone who watched […]
RichC | August 8, 2011
Double dip or not? That is the question investors are facing, especially if they are holding stocks and bonds. After lunch today the markets are still seeing heavy selling … panic selling perhaps … after the S&P downgrade this weekend. Realistically though, companies and even banks are much stronger than they were back in 2008 […]
RichC | August 4, 2011
After the agonizing debates in order to come to a half solution to control our deficit, debt and raising the President’s ability to borrow these past several weeks, the debt ceiling agreement did little to help the world’s financial markets – Europe’s banking problem does little to help. Today Wall Street returned the largest lost […]
RichC | July 1, 2011
Since I’ve posted on stock market declines enough times already this year, it is time to focus on a little positive news. Recently (like the past week), the wider U.S. stock market has reacted positively to much of the news … some good some bad. Today was no exception as the markets rallied into a […]
RichC | June 29, 2010
The Dow Industrials closed down 2.6% or 270 points to 9870.30 on Tuesday afternoon. The Nasdaq stay in step down 3.85% to 2135 and S&P 500 closed at 1041.24, hitting its low for the year. A report indicating consumer confidence was way down in June had investors’ concerned about the overall global economy. Investors headed […]
RichC | May 27, 2010
DJI: +285 (+2.8%) | NASDAQ: +82 (3.7%) | S&P 500: +35 (3.3%) If I knew how to trade the up and down stock market I’d be a happy camper … unfortunately it is near impossible. Today’s comeback saw stocks returning the losses from Tuesday and Wednesday, but conditions on Wall Street (and in the overall […]
RichC | March 13, 2009
Although I don’t spend every moment watching the stock market as an indicator of our economic woes, I do feel the pain when it comes to paying for college and saving for retirement. So I can’t help but take a breath while noticing the averages rise a bit over the last few days. That said, […]
RichC | March 3, 2009
I’ll keep this post short since my mood is the same; the markets tried to find a reason to bounce after loosing 299 point on the DJIA yesterday, but traders and investors would have none of it. The averages did cross yesterday’s ‘ugly’ close a couple time throughout trading on Tuesday, but in the end […]
RichC | May 3, 2008
Microsoft released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on Saturday that he sent to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang saying that Microsoft was willing to raise its offer to $33 a share for Yahoo, but Yahoo demanded at least $4 per share more; $37/share. (the Monday share price for Yahoo will be interesting) “Despite our […]