Posted on 02/24/2017 2:30:50 PM PST by mandaladon
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street edged higher on Friday, with the Dow extending its streak of record-setting gains to 11 days, as increases in utilities and other safety plays outweighed declines in financials.
Major Wall Street indexes have rallied to record levels since the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, boosted by pledges of tax reforms, reduced regulations and increased infrastructure spending.
Equities were in negative territory for a majority of the trading session, however, as investors grew hesitant after recent comments from the Trump administration indicated its pro-growth policies may have a longer route to implementation.
As details remain scarce on Trump's plans, including one announced on Thursday to bring millions of jobs back to the United States, markets have kept to tight daily trading ranges. The benchmark S&P 500 index has not registered a move of at least 1 percent in either direction since Dec. 7.
Analysts have become more leery of stocks as they have run up without concrete details and are becoming more expensive. The forward price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 is 17.8.
"Certainly the sentiment is improving much faster than the actual activity so weve seen valuations probably get a little bit ahead of themselves," said Brant Houston, managing director at Atlantic Trust Private Wealth Management in Denver.
"Ultimately we need to see those fundamental changes come through to validate that improved sentiment."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I have been an investor for 40 years and a serious investor for the past 30.
IMHO today represents an opportunity seldom seen in the equities market.
Two reasons. First, there is incredible pent-up inflation potential as a natural result of the years of “quantitative easing” and deficit spending of the Obama years. The only reason we haven’t seen runaway inflation so far is that the economy has been so bad and a lot of manufacturing has been sent overseas to low wage countries.
Secondly, Obama and his liberal cronies over-regulated everything in sight. DJT is a businessman and he understands the drag this places on the US economy. He has started cutting back regulations left, right, and center. By the time he is done, the US economy will soar again.
But, we will have to endure the inflationary legacy Obama left us for many years into the future.
The way I read the tea leaves is that stocks will do very well, and hard assets, like real estate will do well. Bonds are going to take a haircut as interest rates and inflation rise.
I have put my money where my mouth is. 100% of investable assets are in stocks and real estate (with fixed rate mortgages), despite the fact that I am in my 70s. This is the chance of a lifetime for the man with courage to improve his condition.
I think the ceilings are going to be a lot lower, and I think there is one more rate even though 3 is the number I have heard also.
These are just guesses, no special knowledge. The lowest rate will be 0% and the ceiling will be somewhere around 25k. Then 15% to around $75k, 25% to $150-200K, and 35% above that. A lot fewer deductions than today.
32 years.
32.
It took a long time, but for once I can count on good news every freakin’ day!
If it isn’t some illegal being deported, then it’s a crying EPA employee, or even better, talk of a moon mission!
Damn! It’s good to be alive.
I have taken to reminding financial "gurus" on the local radio show that, well, it seems their forecasts were not so correct after all.
LO effin L.
I hear ya bud. Same here. It is grand...
Yes, I hear you.
The market is strange sometimes isn’t it. It seems to react positively at times when you wouldn’t think it would.
I would expect it to drop under Obama after a certain amount of time, but it didn’t. It just kept trucking away.
I think the government has been pumping funds into the market, so that may have had some impact to prevent a drop under him. I really don’t know.
I’m sure liking what I’m seeing now thought.
I take it in stride, but it’s still fun to watch. I have high hopes for our nation over the next four to eight years.
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