- A 25% win
Lest you believe that all of America loves President-elect Donald Trump, think again: Less than 50 % of all registered voters cast a ballot this year—the lowest voter turnout since 1984. Of that half, only about half of them voted for Trump for president. That translates into a win of roughly 25%. Nothing to write home about even though it translated into a White House win.
What a President Trump means for an America— in which 75% of citizens either decided not to vote or didn’t vote for him— is worrisome.
So, when you hear all the talking heads on radio, tv or online saying America is a divided nation, don’t believe them. America is way more than an equally divided nation—it is a seriously divided nation with a compass pointer strongly tilted toward the negative and anchored in that direction by fear and uncertainty.
And no, Trump did not win by a huge majority.
- Market Quick Glance
A week ago, very few would have predicted that Donald Trump would win the election. Or, that stocks would host a hot diggity dog post Election Day rally during the days that followed. But, all of that did happen. You haven’t been dreaming.
What that positive news means for investors in the near term or by year’s end is, of course, anybody’s guess as there will be plenty of economic news coming forth next week and during the weeks that follow.
Warren Buffett, the very comfortable and happiest looking optimist in America today, told CNNs Poppy Harlow, (during a worth listening to interview), that he doesn’t know how stock prices will perform next year. But, that in 15 to 20 years they would be higher.
Nothing particularly sage-like about that call. But hey, Buffett is nice to listen to and watching him makes me kinda wanna jump up on his lap–and pick his pockets.
With that visual in mind, below are the weekly and 1-year performance results for four popular stock indices along with their respective P/E Ratios. Figures are all based on prices at the close of business on Friday, Nov.11, 2016 and according to Bloomberg.
-Indices:
-Dow Jones +10.70% YTD up substantially from last week’s 4.91%
- 1yr Rtn +12.23% up a lot from last week’s 2.28%
P/E Ratio 17.97 up from last week’s 17.05
-S&P 500 +7.92% YTD up double from last week’s 3.38%
- 1yr Rtn +9.34% up plenty from last week’s 1.50%
P/E Ratio 20.21 up from week’s 19.49
–NASDAQ +5.81% YTD up from last week’s 1.93%
- 1yr Rtn +7.71% way up from last week’s -0.61%
P/E Ratio 30.31 up from last week’s 29.43
–Russell 2000 +14.34 YTD seriously up from last week’s 3.69%
- 1yr Rtn +13.55% also seriously up from last week’s -1.55%
P/E Ratio 45.14 up from last week’s 41.25
-Mutual funds
After a week that was, the year-to-date average return on U.S. Diversified Equity Funds was up 6.15% at the close of business on Thursday, Nov.10, 2016, according to Lipper.
Under that broad umbrella heading, Small-Cap Value Funds scored the most, up on average 14.87%. They were followed by Equity Leverage Funds, up 14.74%.
The average Sector Equity Fund was up 7.87% with Precious Metals Equity Funds up 67.83 now—way off their year-to-date average fix-figure highs.
Around the world, Latin American Funds were up on average 24.31% and continue to top the year-to-date performance figures under the World Equity Funds heading. They, however, have lost ground too. Last week their average y-t-d return was over 35%.
Please visit www.allaboutfunds.com for more information about how various equity and fixed-income funds have rewarded investors over the short-and long-term, based upon Lipper data. Short-term meaning weekly and monthly performance returns; longer-term includes quarterly, year-to-date, 1-yr, 2-yr, 3-yr and 5-yr returns.
- Presidential Market Returns
History has shown us that a Democrat in the White House has proven more profitable to investors than when Republicans have lived there.
The 4-year annualized returns of the S&P 500, beginning on March 4, 1929 through August 5, 2016, show during Democratic administrations the average annualized return of that index up 10.83% vs. a 1.71% return under a Republican presidency, according to Forbes.
Oh my.
That said, four-year market returns basically have little to do with the party of the President. What matters much more than a party’s donkey or elephant affiliation is a host of other conditions—such as economic conditions, corporate profits, wars or lack of them, inflation, employment, etc. etc.
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