Was last week the time of reckoning for the stock markets? For those who worry that investors have been irrationally exuberant, two pieces of news over the past week might make them seem right. The first is the market sell-off in technology stocks towards the end of the week. The US S&P500 fell 2.3% in […]
My son is named Noah, after the biblical prophet who built an ark out of faith. One of Warren Buffett’s lesser-known quotes is based on Noah’s story: “Predicting the rain doesn’t count; building arks does.” Buffett was giving advice about running businesses, but the same applies to investing and financial planning. Many active investment managers […]
What should you rely on for your future retirement and goals?
The 24th and 25th days of March 2020 were two rare consecutive “green” days for the US markets since the COVID-19 sell-off began almost a month ago. From a low point of over -30% from the peak, the S&P500 was up a huge 9.4% on the first green day the expectation of the US Congress […]
When the markets are under extreme stress, things can and do happen on Sunday nights. Back in September 2008, Lehman’s default and Merrill Lynch’s running into Bank of America’s arms for rescue took place on a Sunday night, US time. A week later, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were named bank holding companies, allowing them […]
Yesterday was the worst one-day in the US stock markets since 1987. To have an index almost 10% down in a single day is a very rare event. How do we think about rare events then, in relation to our investments? The first popular framework of thought is to look at history. But let’s use […]
To say that the stock markets have been volatile against the evolving global COVID-19 situation is an understatement. As of that is not enough, the failure of OPEC talks over the weekend of 7-8 March and subsequent oil price drops have added fuel to fire (pun intended). Moves of more than 4% in the S&P500 […]
Here are some tips for young working adults when managing their finances. How many of these do you practice?
What are the regrets of fund managers and advisers who are still in the profession today, when they think of 2008-2009? Overnight, US equities ended sharply lower in the Thursday trading session, with S&P 500 finishing down for a sixth straight session yesterday. This brings the index to -12% from its peak on 19 Feb […]
