Tag Archive: recession

Employment Data Confirms Economy Is Slowing

2025-05-09

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2025-05-09

While coming in much stronger than expected, the latest employment data confirmed what we already suspected: the economy is slowing. The reason the employment data is so important is that without employment growth, the economy stalls. It takes, on average, […] The post Employment Data Confirms Economy Is Slowing appeared first on RIA.

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“Resistance Is Futile” – For Both Bulls And Bears

2025-05-05

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2025-05-05

"Resistance is futile" was a sentence that struck fear in the hearts of Trekkie fans during "Star Trek: The Next Generation," specifically in both of the "Best Of Worlds" and "First Contact" episodes. In those episodes, the "Starship Enterprise" crew encountered a species called the "Borg." The Borg's primary purpose was to achieve "perfection" by assimilating other beings …

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The Awards You Never Get When Investing

2025-05-02

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2025-05-02

In investing, success is often judged by numbers—returns on investment, percentage gains, and the ability to outperform benchmarks like the S&P 500. However, some investors frequently pursue a peculiar set of "awards" without realizing the pitfalls they embody. These unspoken goals, while tempting, rarely lead to sustainable investment success. If there were awards for some of these …

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Correction Continues – The Value Of Risk Management

2025-04-28

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2025-04-28

Despite the recent rally, the correction continues. While wanting to "buy the dip" is tempting, there has been enough technical damage to warrant remaining cautious in the near term. As we have discussed, managing risk requires discipline and the emotional ability to navigate more volatile markets until a more straightforward path for risk-taking emerges. The …

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Speculator Or Investor? 10-Rules From Legendary Investors

2025-04-25

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2025-04-25

Are you a "speculator" or an "investor"? This is an essential question that every individual deploying capital into the financial markets must answer. The reason is that how you answer that question determines how you should behave during market cycles.

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The Death Cross And Market Bottoms

2025-04-21

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2025-04-21

In financial markets, few technical patterns generate as much attention and anxiety as the death cross. This ominous-sounding term refers to a crossover on a price chart when a short-term moving average, most commonly the 50-day moving average (50-DMA), drops below a long-term moving average, usually the 200-day moving average (200-DMA). The "death cross" is a fantastic …

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Inflation Risk Is Subsiding Rapidly

2025-04-18

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2025-04-18

Inflation risk has been a significant topic of discussion in the mainstream media for the last few years. Such is unsurprising given that inflation spiked following the pandemic in 2020 as consumer spending (demand) was shot into overdrive from stimulus payments and production (supply) was shuttered. To understand why that occurred, we need to revisit …

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Yield Spreads Suggest The Risk Isn’t Over Yet

2025-04-14

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2025-04-14

In November last year, I discussed the importance of yield spreads, historically the market's "early warning system." To wit:" "Yield spreads are critical to understanding market sentiment and predicting potential stock market downturns. A credit spread refers to the difference in yield between two bonds of similar maturity but different credit quality. This comparison often …

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The Consumer Is Tapping Out

2025-04-11

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2025-04-11

The recent implementation of tariffs has the media buzzing about increased recession odds as the consumer faces potentially higher costs. While recent economic reports, like the latest employment report, still show robust growth, those data points run with a lag that hasn't yet caught up with reality. As we have discussed, the American consumer is …

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The Market Crash – Hope In The Fear

2025-04-07

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2025-04-07

Last week, we noted that "nothing good happens below the 200-DMA," and the tariff-induced market crash this past week confirmed that statement. However, we also noted that over the last 30 years, previous failures at the 200-DMA have also often been buying opportunities. That is unless some "event" of magnitude creates a massive shift in analysts' estimates. …

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The Stock Market Warning Of A Recession?

2025-04-04

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2025-04-04

A Wall Street axiom states that the stock markets lead the economy by about six months. While not a perfect predictor, the stock market reacts to investor expectations about future corporate earnings, economic activity, interest rates, and inflation. When sentiment shifts due to anticipated weakness in any of these areas, equity prices often decline, reflecting …

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Failure At The 200-DMA

2025-04-01

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2025-04-01

In last week's post, "Is the correction over?" we wrote about the potential for a rally back to the 200-DMA. However, the failure of that test increased short-term concerns. As we noted in that post, there were early indications of buyers returning to the market. To wit: "The chart below has four subpanels. The first … Continue reading...

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Stagflation Panic: A Misdiagosed Media Spin

2025-03-28

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2025-03-28

Following the latest Federal Reserve meeting, there was a massive surge in media headlines stating "stagflation." The media's stagflation panic is unsurprising as it elicits memories of the late 1970s during the Arab oil embargo. Of course, a "stagflation" is excellent fodder for clicks and views as it scares the “bejeebers” out of people. Over the last …

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U.S. Recession Risks Not As High As The Media Suggests

2025-03-21

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2025-03-21

U.S. recession risks have been a headline over the last few weeks as the markets sold off. "Goldman Sachs and Moody’s Analytics in recent days joined forecasters raising alarm about the increased likelihood of an economic downturn.

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Retail Investor Buys The Dip Despite Bearish Sentiment

2025-03-18

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2025-03-18

It has been an interesting correction. The average retail investor was "buying the dip" despite having an extremely bearish outlook. This is an interesting point because, as shown, the retail investor used to be considered a "contrarian indicator" as they were prone to be driven by emotional behaviors that led them to "buy high and sell low." …

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Stupidity And The 5-Laws Not To Follow

2025-03-14

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2025-03-14

Human stupidity is the one thing you can rely on in financial markets. I recently read a great piece by Joe Wiggins at Behavioral Investment, which discusses why "Investing is hard." The entire article is worth reading, but here are the five key reasons investors often fail at investing: These are great points, particularly now that …

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CAPE-5: A Different Measure Of Valuation

2025-02-28

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2025-02-28

One of the most referenced valuation measures is Dr. Robert Shiller's Cyclically Adjusted Price-Earnings Ratio, known as CAPE. Valuations have always been, and remain, an essential variable in long-term investing returns. Or, as Warren Buffett once quipped: “Price Is What You Pay. Value Is What You Get.” One of the hallmarks of very late-stage bull …

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Estimates By Analysts Have Gone Parabolic

2025-02-25

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2025-02-25

Just recently, S&P Global released its 2026 earnings estimates, which, for lack of a better word, have gone parabolic. Such should not be surprising given the ongoing exuberance on Wall Street. As noted last week, correlations between all asset classes, whether international or emerging markets, gold or bitcoin, have all gone to one. Unsurprisingly, rationalizations …

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The Tariff Risk Isn’t In Inflation (Part II)

2025-02-21

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2025-02-21

For Part 1 on "Tariff Risk" read: Tariff Impact Not As Bearish As Predicted. In "Trumpflation" we discussed why the tariff risk was not inflation. To wit: "Today, globalization and technology give consumers vast choices in the products they buy. While instituting a tariff on a set of products from China may indeed raise the …

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Retail Exuberance Sets Market Up For A Correction

2025-02-18

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2025-02-18

Last week, we discussed the surge in retail exuberance in the market following the election of President Trump. "The market defies more negative news because retail investors continue to step in and "buy the dip." In our recent Bull Bear reports, we discussed the push by retail investors, but looking at retail sentiment is quite …

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