In the last few months, the stock market has been predicting a strong economy in 2007 while the bond market has been predicting weakness. One of these prognostications must be “wrong”. The markets could meet in the middle, or there could be
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This was a quarter in which the five year trend of leadership by small and mid cap stocks was reversed, with new dominance coming from mega-cap stocks that have been stuck in neutral for several years. Since valuation parameters suggest that this
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This was a quarter in which the five year trend of leadership by small and mid cap stocks was reversed, with new dominance coming from mega-cap stocks that have been stuck in neutral for several years. Since valuation parameters suggest that this
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This was a difficult quarter (in fact, my worst relative to the S&P in over five years). The S&P 500 Index only fell by 1.9%. However, the Nasdaq Composite Index plunged by 7.2% as blue chips substantially outperformed the broader market. I
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The stock market got off to a good start this year with the S&P 500 Index gaining 3.73%. The Nasdaq Composite Index did even better, with a 6.1% gain. We produced a gain for the quarter of 6.8%, outpacing the Nasdaq and
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Although it was not an easy year to make money in US markets, we did better than most. Your account gained 8.14% for the year, besting the total return of 4.77% on the S&P 500 Index by a healthy margin. Our returns
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Although it was not an easy year to make money in US markets, we did better than most. Your account gained 8.14% for the year, besting the total return of 4.77% on the S&P 500 Index by a healthy margin. Our returns
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In football, “three yards and a cloud of dust” isn’t too exciting. The stock market wasn’t very exciting this quarter either, but the S&P 500 index quietly produced a return of 3.1%. If you annualize that, it’s not a bad rate of
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After abnormal weakness in 2000-02 and unusual strength in 2003, the stock market produced a more normal return in 2004. Most of the net gains came from a rally that began in late October. The S&P 500 Index rose 9.0% for the
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The S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq diverged in the third quarter as energy stocks helped to stabilize the S&P while technology stocks pulled the Nasdaq sharply lower. The S&P fell 2.3% for the quarter, while the Nasdaq tumbled 7.4%. Your account
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