Near the end of last month S&P Dow Jones Indices reported preliminary dividend and buyback activity for the S&P 500 Index for the fourth quarter of last year. For the quarter the dollar amount of dividends paid increased 5.4% versus the same quarter in the prior year. Additionally, for the quarter, dividends combined with buybacks increased 3.1% year over year. It is not uncommon for the combined ...
In prior posts highlighting investor sentiment data it has been noted that sentiment data is more actionable at market bottoms than at market tops. Knowing this, the American Association of Individual Investors reported bullish investors sentiment at 26.1%, which is below the minus 1 standard deviation level of the average bullish sentiment level.Additionally, bearish sentiment jumped 6.1 percenta...
Nearly two years ago four factors were influencing the energy market and specifically the price of oil. Oil inventory in the U.S. hit a record highThe price of crude (West Texas Intermediate or WTI) reached a post financial crisis lowRotary oil rig count hit a record low of 404The trade weighted value US Dollar hit a post financial crisis highThe fact oil inventory spiked is partially attributable...
In one brief quarter, the equity market goes from experiencing virtually no volatility to seemingly +/- 2% swings on a daily basis. Last year was a bit abnormal and more a year of consistent returns and minimal drawdowns. In fact, the largest drawdown was just 3%. The market has already experienced a 10% drawdown in 2018. In our Spring 2018 Investor Letter we note the fact the first quarter broke ...
One truism investors know well is the fact the stock market does not perform well in a recession. The recent focus on implementation of tariffs on the U.S.'s largest trading country, China, have some concerned about escalation into an all out trade war and leading to an economic slowdown or recession. Google web search on the term 'Tariffs' has moved higher with the March 1 peak coinciding with th...
About a year and a half ago I wrote a post on the current equity market that broke out of a thirteen year trading range in 2013 and compared it to the bull markets of the 1950s and 1980s. A number of policy issues being pursued today have similarities to ones in those two decades and below is a brief summary of what I wrote then:"...potential commonality to the current market compared to those pri...
Before I left for a week of vacation at the end of March, the equity markets had begun to exhibit a higher level of volatility. This seems to occur more often than not around this time period each year. This heightened volatility was to the downside and I wrote a post before leaving town noting this was more typical market action. What has been so abnormal about the equity market over the past fiv...
This past week was certainly a difficult one for the market and by default, a difficult one for investors. Most of the weakness occurred on the last two days of the week, which resulted in the week's return for the S&P 500 Index ending at a negative 5.98%.Even with the recent market weakness, on a total return basis, the S&P 500 Index is up over 18% since the beginning of 2017 and down just 2.76% ...
Before passage of The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December, earnings growth for the S&P 500 was expected to be low double digits in calendar year 2018. Since passage of tax reform, a significant improvement in earnings growth expectations has occurred. The below table shows I/B/E/S earnings growth expectations in October by sector and for the S&P 500 Index compared to expectations as of the end of la...
Today the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reported small businesses are showing unprecedented optimism. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index was reported at 107.6, the second highest reading in the 45-year history of the Index. The highest reading recorded was 108.0 in 1983.According to NFIB's President and CEO, Juanita Duggan,“When small business owners have confidence and ce...