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Yes. We are in a stock market bubble. The only question is, what will be the issue that eventually pops it? We alluded to this answer in Friday’s #MacroView discussing why more “Stimulus Won’t Create Economic Growth.”As discussed in our previous article, if market bubbles are about “psychology,” as represented by investors’ herding behavior, then price and valuations reflect that psychology.In other words, bubbles can exist even at times when valuations and fundamentals might argue otherwise. Let me show you an elementary example of what I mean. The chart below is the long-term valuation of the S&P 500 going back...

When lockdowns first happened, my initial thought was geeky, and only later did I begin to realize the implications for human rights and liberties. My thought was: this is going to be devastating for future capital investment. The basis of my fear was the knowledge that in almost all poor countries, property rights are insecure, particularly for capital goods. These are goods that are produced to make other goods (the “produced means of production,” in the classic formulation by Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk). Their existence and protection is a key to prosperity. They enable more complex economic structures – the extended...

In every century the same thing happens at one point or another. Society loses the plot and gets caught up in a mania, a grandiose exercise in self delusion. It can be political, it can be religious, and yes it can be economic. Sometimes these manias are confined to regions or small groups of people, sometimes they are vast in reach and impact and have global consequences. We can all think of examples. Religious? How about witch burnings? Politics? How about Nazism? Economics? How about all the manias that had fervent believers and adherents that with the hindsight of time...

“The big boys are no longer bullish,” bellowed Biggie Too in baritone. “The big boys are now bubble bullish,” continued the chief investment strategist for one of Wall Street’s Too-Big-To-Fail affairs. “They ask Biggie, why can’t the S&P trade 5,500?” said Too, easing into third person. “And Biggie asks ’em back: We got 6% GDP and 1% rates, who’s gonna short this?” he said. “You do the math, you gonna tell Biggie to short this thang?” asked Too. And I shrugged, having long since learned to recognize when Biggie’s question is the answer.“No one’s gonna short the S&P unless 6%...

S&P 500 3,851.85 +52.94(+1.39%) Dow 30 31,188.38 +257.86(+0.83%) Nasdaq 13,457.25 +260.07(+1.97%) Russell 2000 2,160.62 +9.48(+0.44%)

Dear Madam Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order taking further steps to deal with the threat posed by the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) increasing exploitation of United States capital to resource and to enable the development and modernization of its military, intelligence, and other security apparatuses which continue to allow the PRC to directly threaten the United States homeland...

Word to the wise. While being in debt is not normally a good thing, sometimes it can be wise. Take for instance the Communist Democrats being in power means that inflation will rise. With inflation comes higher prices, which means you need to reconsider certain aspects of your finances to deal with the oncoming higher cost of living.It's inevitable, because of the Democrat's social agenda of higher taxes, increased regulations, higher Federal minimum wage, and their war on the fossil fuels, because of their 100 trillion dollar Green New Deal plans. That is just the things the Democrats are promising...

Back in the 1980s, the big fear was that Japan was buying up America. At the start of the third decade of the 21st century, the fear is that China is buying up America, a threat much more potent than Japan ever was. Unlike China, which expanded by building a better mousetrap, China’s reach is predicated upon Marxist expansionism, military and private-sector espionage, corrupt business practices, slave labor, and a large military.Investing.com assembled a list of 76 American brands that China owns in whole or in part. (There are also companies that Hong Kong owns but China’s aggressive inroads in...

The surface transportation construction industry has long had to rely on Washington for its prosperity. We spend most years holding our breath and hoping we will receive more Federal funding to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and highway systems. Currently in the United States, 7 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, and 19 percent of major highway pavements have deteriorated. Yet, our existing financing structure has few tools to address the looming reconstruction challenges facing existing infrastructure. In 2020, Congress passed a one-year extension of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. While the one-year extension of the FAST Act...

I recently discovered that Google and Facebook were two of the largest stock holdings in one of the mutual funds that I hold in retirement accounts. I sold that mutual fund and am looking for a "patriot" friendly mutual fund. Any recommendations?

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation that would kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges unless they adhere to American auditing standards, the White House said, giving the Republican one more tool to threaten Beijing with before leaving office next month. "The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act" bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board's audits for three years in a row. While it applies to companies from any country, the legislation's sponsors intended it to target Chinese companies listed in the...

News AnalysisPresident Donald Trump’s latest executive order bars U.S. investors from holding ownership stakes in a list of 31 Chinese companies designated to have ties with various Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military apparatuses.This order, while somewhat limited in scope, ensnares several well-known Chinese companies, including non-public companies such as Huawei and publicly traded companies such as China Mobile and Hangzhou Hikvision. The 31 companies were previously designated by the Pentagon as being “owned or controlled” by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the official name of the Chinese military. (The list of companies can be found here and here.)The action could...

President Trump has signed an order barring Americans from investing in a batch of Chinese companies that the White House says hold ties to China's military. News that Trump had signed the executive order, which prevents American businesses and individuals from owning stock directly or indirectly from a list of 31 businesses identified by the administration, was reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal. Investors will have until November 2021 to divest of the securities in question. Divisions of two companies, China Mobile Communications and China Telecommunications Corp., trade on U.S. exchanges. The U.S. government argues that these companies support...

WASHINGTON—An investment management firm has created a new fund that invests in companies supporting conservative beliefs and values. Founded by Ridgeline Research LLC, a Washington-based investment adviser, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) is actively managed and seeks to avoid ownership of companies that back progressive and liberal political causes. The fund, called American Conservative Values ETF, debuted on Oct. 29 with a focus on large-capitalization U.S. stocks. The fund, which refuses to invest in liberal media, also boycotts companies that are hostile to conservative values and disproportionately contribute to liberal causes, campaigns, candidates, political action committees, charities, and think tanks. Bill...

Social media giant Twitter suffered a stock price crash of more than 21 percent in intraday trading today following the release of the company’s Q3 report. The company reported its slowest growth in years as many companies also bought less advertising on the platform at the same time. Variety reports that despite beating Wall Street financial forecasts for the third quarter of 2020, Twitter’s poor user growth for the time period and an extremely uncertain advertising forecast for Q4 has caused the company’s stock to crash more than 20 percent.

“key domestic contacts” for a joint venture involving Jim and Hunter Biden and now-bankrupt CEFC China Energy Co. included former Vice President Joe Biden’s current running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, among other prominent Democrats, The list, included Harris, D-Calif.; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo; New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio; former Virginia Gov. Terry McCauliffe, among others. But that isn’t the big news. The big news is that a Biden insider is going public: “I’ve seen Vice President Biden saying he...

At the start of 2012 Horseman Global did something which virtually none of its peers dared or would dare to do: it took its formerly 100% equity net long exposure to deep net short, launching an 8 year period in which the fund would be bearish month after month on stocks, yet as the monthly P&L table below shows, it also manged to generate impressive annual returns over this same period (with the exceptions of 2016 and 2019) despite constant central bank intervention pushing stocks relentlessly higher, largely thanks to the Fund's significant bond long position. Yet after a dismal...

There’s an old saying: “when there’s blood in the streets buy real estate.” The modern version of the axiom relates to the strategy of George Soros: create the crisis; fund the political arsonists; drive the turmoil; then benefit from pre-positioned finances. Both versions are essentially saying the same thing. Without opinion as to the origin and possible intent of the Chinese COVID-19 launch, what became obvious early on was how the virus could be weaponized for maximum political value. Factually, and specifically when contrast against the most recently visible control efforts by social media giants to assist Joe Biden, you...

The son-in-law, Dr. The son-in-law, Dr. Howard Krein, is part of the firm StartUp Health. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's son-in-law is advising the Biden campaign on its coronavirus response while his venture capital firm is looking to invest in health-care startups working on the pandemic. The Biden relative, Dr. Howard Krein, is part of the investment firm StartUp Health, which in March, when the virus began its rapid spread in the U.S., began an initiative soliciting pitches from entrepreneurs with products that address the outbreak, according to Politico. The next month, Krein reportedly participated in daily calls to brief...

any wisdom out there on the november election and setting stock stop loss or stop limit orders? i am currently figuring that the worst is if biden wins or the outcome is placed into limbo pending recounts. if this is the case, presumably there will be a dip in stock prices. however, will the dip last very long? trump will still be in office until january 20, 2021, which means that stocks would seem still relatively safe up until january 20, 2021. so, january 19 (eg january 15) or slightly earlier might make a good time to sell stocks manually....