During November, stock prices in the US and internationally made significant gains, which took the three primary US indexes to new all-time highs. Since the March 23, 2000 lows of 2,237 for the S&P 500, 18,591 for the Dow Industrials, and 6,860 for the NASDAQ Composite, the three indexes closed November at 3,622; 29,639; and 12,199, respectively. The percentage gains …

As stock price volatility continues, both up and down (more down for September and October, after a major gain from the 2020 lows in March through August), investors tend to pay more attention to bonds as an alternative to stocks for their liquid investment portfolios. (Although our Comments are written as of the end of each month, we take note …

In our August Comments, we presented several investment definitions and principles that we consider useful in further understanding price changes in the financial markets. Interestingly, the price earnings (P/E) ratios we discussed in August have become a talking point in September’s media coverage of the volatility. Briefly put, some number of market analysts and financial media believe that stock prices …

With all that is going on in the world, there is an additional wildcard, namely the upcoming US presidential election. As our regular readers know, we at PPA maintain that who is President is only one of several factors affecting stock and bond prices. Even if we know who is going to be President, no one can predict what will …

The month-end August 2020 US stock and bond market investment results continued to be mostly favorable, even though the declines during the first week in September (3rd, 4th, and 8th) reduced these positive results somewhat. We think this is an opportune time to present certain basic investment definitions and principles that we at Park Piedmont (PPA) consider important to know. …

The historically low interest rates of the past year represent an attempt by the US Federal Reserve to stimulate a faltering US economy. The correspondingly low rates determined in the bond market have hurt investors who need income. But these rates have been a boon to borrowers, as the Fed intended. Now is therefore a very good time to consider …

The US stock market has continued its significant and highly improbable advance from its recent March lows, even as the “real world economy” continues to post record breaking negative figures in many categories, including employment and most recently GDP (Gross Domestic Product), amid the continuing coronavirus.  Trying to make sense of this disconnect is now a favorite topic for the …

In our May Comments, we quoted from The Price of Peace by Zachary Carter (May 2020), which chronicles the work, life, times, and impact of John Maynard Keynes. This month we return to a subject we have discussed before, namely the extraordinarily important distinction between investors on the one hand, and traders/speculators on the other. We start with some observations …

The US stock market continued the highly unlikely gains that started in April through May, following the steep declines from mid-February to late-March. With only modest examples of reopening the economy amid the coronavirus, the ongoing stock gains appear to be taking a highly optimistic view of the future. The various actions by the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates …

As stock prices in April continued their March pattern of wide daily fluctuations, both up and down, and amidst the financial media’s ongoing reporting of the severe negative economic impacts from the global responses to the coronavirus, we have been looking for a word or phrase to capture what is happening.  The word that comes to mind is random.  And …