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•No Water
Sorry I’m late in getting this out but I’ve been out driving around looking for water in preparation of the looks-like-it’s-coming-here Hurricane Irma. Been to two of each of the following stores in the greater West Palm Beach area—-Walgreen’s, Lowes’, Aldi’s, and Home Depot’s. And one Costco, Publix and Wal-Mart. No water in any.
Spent about three hours looking, which translates to about 10 bucks in gas. Thought about stopping for it, but the lines at the pumps were too long.
Now I’m trying to figure out what the best time of day or night might be for me to venture out again in search of gas and, more importantly, the one thing our bodies must have to keep us going—water.
On that note, as horrible, tragic, devastating, etc. that these hurricanes are and can be, beyond the personal costs and losses come the other side of that coin: Businesses prosper.
A few stocks that may increase in per share value because of Mother Nature’s wrath include home builder and supply stores such as Home Depot and Lowes. Throw in stores that sell, food, gas and bottled water, like Costco and Wal-Mart and big blue chip companies such as those could wind up rewarding investors after the storms have passed.
A heck of a week with the Russell 2000 making the greatest gains both on YTD basis and 1-year return. But don’t expect this bull to run wild in September as it traditionally has been a horrible month for stocks.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results— including the dates each reached new highs— according to data from CNBC.com. Data is based on prices at the close of business for the week ending on Friday, Sept 1, 2017.
-DJIA + 11.26YTD up from last week’s 10.38% and the previous week’s 11.79%.
- 1 yr Rtn +19.37% up from last week’s 18.24%
The DJIA reached its most recent all-time high on August 8, 2017 of 22,179.11
(Previous highs since March include: August 4, 2017 of 22,092.81; 21,841.18 on July 28, 2017; July 14, 2017 of 21,681.53; July 3,2017 of 21,562.75; 21,535.03 on June 20, 2017; 21,391.97 reached on June 14, 2017; 21,305.35 on June 9, 2017; 21,225.04 on June 2, 2017; and 21,169.11 on March 1, 2017.)
-S&P 500 +10.62% YTD up from last week’s 9.12% and the previous week’s 10.63%.
- 1yr Rtn +14.08% up from last week’s +12.45%
The S&P 500 reached its most recent all-time high on August 8, 2017 of 2,490.87.
(Previous high of 2,484.04 was reached on July 27, 2017 and 2,477.62 was reached on July 20, 2017. Prior to that date new highs and dates include: 2,463.54 on July 14, 2017; 2453.82 on June 19,2017; 2,446.2 reached on June 9, 2017; 2,440.23 reached on June 2, 2017; 2,418.71 reached on May 25, 2017; 2,405.77 reached on May 16, 2017; 2403.87 on May 9, 2017; 2,400.98 reached on March 1, 2017.)
-NASDAQ +18.55% YTD up from last week’s +16.39% and the previous week’s
+16.23%.
- 1yr Rtn +23.11% up from last week’s 20.21%
The Nasdaq reached its most recent all-time high of 6,460.84 on July 27, 2017.
(Previous highs include: July 20, 2017 of 6,398.26; 6,341.7 on June 9, 2017; 6,308.76 on June 2; 6,217.34 reached on May 25; 6,170,16 on May 16; 6,133 on May 9, 2017; 6102.72 on May 2, 2017; 6074.04 on April 28, 2017; and 5,936.39 on April 5, 2017.)
-Russell 2000 +4.16% YTD up from last week’s +1.50% and the previous week’s +1.26%.
- 1yr Rtn +14.02% up from last week’s +11.08%
The Russell 2000 reached its latest all-time high on July 25, 2017 of 1,452.09.
(Previous highs include: 1,452.05 on July 21, 2017; 1,433.789 on June 9, 2017; 1,425.7 reached on April 26, 2017 and of 1,414,82 reached on March 1, 2017.)
-Mutual funds
At the close of business on Thursday, August 31, 2017, the average cumulative total reinvested return for funds under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Funds heading YTD was 9.04%. That’s up from the previous week’s 7.36%.
Sector Equity Funds ended the week up on average at 7.18% and World Income Funds at 8.57%. Both, however, pale in comparison to the performances of the average World Equity Fund—up for the year so far 20.41%.
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.
Here’s news every investor needs to be mindful of: Settlement dates.
There are basically two dates that everyone who buys and sells securities, like stocks, bonds, municipal bonds, mutual funds, needs to remember: Starting today, September 5, 2017, the day your securities need to be paid for and the second is the day you’ll receive the proceeds from the sale of securities. Both have been shorted from 3 days down to 2.
That’s a big deal. And one that has changed over time. FYI, when I was a broker in the last century and early 1980s, folks had 5 days to pay for their security transaction and it took 5 days before the monies from a sale would show in their account or a check could be mailed to them.
Just as the years have passed and transactions have become more efficiently computerized the amount of time necessary for either of these transactions has shortened.
One date that has never changed, and can’t, is the trade date. That’s the one that represents the date in which your securities were purchased and the date on which they were sold.
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allaboutfundsdotcom 