Uncle Sam stole the year-end Santa rally.  The worst December since 1931 and the worst Christmas Eve stock market performance of all time occurred this year.  From my perspective, it is all politics this December.  Yes, our great Uncle Sam “Scrooge” stole Christmas and a small positive investment performance for 2018.  It traces to bad […]

With just 5 trading days remaining in 2018, Santa is missing, failing to deliver any holiday cheer more familiar to investors at this time of year.  Even a lump of coal might feel better at this point.  Instead, the ill-behavior of financial markets would suggest that something very bad is happening to the global economy.  […]

Barron’s front cover over the weekend (12/15/2018) read “2019 Outlook: US Stocks Could Rally More Than 10%”; while the New York Times front page (12/15/2018) was “The Best Place to Put Money? Your Mattress” and in the Style Section (same paper/date) read “Are You Ready for the Financial Crisis of 2019?”  Quite divergent headlines on […]

As we noted in these pages at the beginning of last week, we find it simply remarkable how quick the market’s mood can change against a fluid and stressed environment like the recent two months.  Entering the week, the stars seemed to be aligning for those hopeful a more dovish Fed and collaborative tone between […]