Gary Carmell
With last week being dedicated to a much-enjoyed vacation, I thought I would let pictures do more of the talking this week.
Not surprisingly, the Fed increased its benchmark rate by 0.25%. The market fully priced this in. What is more surprising is the Fed telegraphing two more hikes in 2017 and commencing a slow reduction in its holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities beginning at the end of the year.
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Gary Carmell
Steve Schwarzman is the co-founder and Chairman and CEO of Blackstone, which is the largest alternative asset management firm in the world. Schwarzman has built a financial colossus and extraordinarily successful asset management firm that is by far the global leader in alternative investments.
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Gary CarmellMarc Andreessen said something in an interview that I have thought a lot about over the years. I have been a big fan of Joseph Campbell who was an expert on myths and deconstructing the hero’s journey into its most important components and structure.
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Gary Carmell
Technology stocks, particularly large capitalization ones, have been on a tear as the following chart shows.
Since there is overlap between the two indices, I was curious to know how the largest technology companies have impacted the overall S&P 500 return.
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Gary Carmell
A few weeks ago I referenced Bob Dylan’s recommendation that we find our calling. I saw this in action last week and had this supplemented by some of the things I read. I had the pleasure to go to Philadelphia to attend the graduation of my niece from the University of Pennsylvania where she was awarded a Ph.D.
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Gary Carmell
Key economic data and stock prices almost always change before the narrative does. Although the housing meltdown didn’t really come into force until 2007, new home sales had already peaked in 2005 and this corresponded with the stock price of home builders hitting all-time highs. The first chart shows new home sales topping out in July 2015 and the same for Lennar’s stock price as the second chart depicts.
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Gary Carmell
Auto sales have been one of the real bright areas of the economy ever since the “Cash for Clunkers” program ended and sales dropped back down to recessionary levels. The following chart shows how they have grown by approximately 100% from trough to peak.
Auto Sales
Unfortunately,
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Gary Carmell
I have to confess that I’m feeling a bit guilty about something. A few weeks ago someone sent me a message on LinkedIn within 15 minutes (if not less) of me accepting his connection request. My usual experience with that one-two punch is not very favorable as it often relates to someone wanting to sell me something,
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Gary Carmell
Last week I discussed a fascinating study that asked whether stocks outperformed T-Bills. Surprisingly, the answer was that most stocks do not and the bulk of stock market returns have come from an incredibly small number of companies that have produced the estimated $32 trillion in wealth (returns in excess of T-Bills) between 1926 and 2015.
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Gary Carmell
In reading @jesse_livermore’s latest and always brilliant missive/analysis, he referenced and linked to a study by Arizona State University professor Hendrik Bessembinder entitled “Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?” It seems like a pretty ludicrous question since our capitalist system is supposed to reward risk takers.
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