I was surprised as anyone to see the stock market erase its 2020 losses last week in a remarkable reversal of the COVID-19 doldrums. Certainly the trillions in Federal stimulus spending and ‘loose money’ from the Federal Reserve has a lot to do with it. Minneapolis Federal Reserve Chief, Neel Kashkari – who had been involved in the 2008 TARP program and Fed initiatives during … Continue reading Stock Market Derisked?

Normally at this point of the year I provide an update on how our retirement portfolio is doing against the investment plan we laid out before early retirement.  It takes a little time to crunch all the numbers and with the historically horrific headlines we’ve had this year, it might have been easy to just skip the update until later this year. Still, with the … Continue reading Unexpected Returns – Portfolio Update

Back on March 27th, I made the playful ‘Much To Early Prediction’ to friends (and in this POST) that the pandemic market crash had bottomed out.  The DJIA had fallen to 18,214 on the afternoon of March 23rd. This was long before the worst of the pandemic had hit the US or the world yet, but so far the optimistic outlook has paid off as … Continue reading Is The Pandemic Bear Sleeping?

Lots of mayhem on Wall Street right now with the media focusing only on the coronavirus. I’ve had a couple people ask me about it, so I thought I would shoot out my thoughts today. I think the coronavirus does represent a significant short-term financial risk while businesses and government work to control the impact of it on global corporate supply chains. At the same … Continue reading Market Valuation – Where Are We Now?