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Bulls
Last week’s AAII sentiment survey reflected that bull-o-mania continued to be alive and well in investors’ minds.
And, that that sentiment continued to break records: For 153 weeks straight that positive, making-money thinking has been going on, according to Bespoke.
That’s kinda scary as most investors know first-hand that bull markets don’t last forever—-even the most fertile of bulls need to take a rest every now and then.
Time to place your bets on when this one will.
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Market Quick Glance
A few cracks in year-to-date and 1-year returns with all of the 1-year returns lower than they were the previous week.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for four major indices— including the dates each reached new highs—according to CNBC.com based on prices at the close of business on Friday, December 8, 2017.
–DJIA +23.11% YTD up from last week’s 22.61%.
- 1 yr Rtn +24.03% down from last week’s 26.26%
Another new high for the DJIA was reached on December 4, 2017 of 24,534.04. The previous high was hit on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017 of 24,327.82.
On March 1, the Dow stood at 21,169.11.
-S&P 500 +18.43% YTD up a bit from last week’s 18.02%.
- 1yr Rtn +18.04% down from last week’s +20.59%
The S&P 500 reached another new high on December 4, 2017 of 2,665.19. Its previous high was reached on November 30, 2017 of 2,657.74.
On March 1, 2017, that index stood at 2,400.98.
-NASDAQ +27.07% YTD down a bit from last week’s +27.20%.
- 1yr Rtn +26.26% down a lot from last week’s 30.40%
The Nasdaq reached a new all-time high of 6,914.19 oon Nov. 28, 2017. The previous high of 6,890.02 was reached on November 24, 2017.
On April 5, 2017 the index closed at 5,936.39.
-Russell 2000 +12.13%YTD down from last week’s +13.26%
•1yr Rtn +9.76% way down from last week’s +16.99%
The Russell 2000 reached a new all-time high on December 4, 2017 of 1,559.61. The previous high was reached on November 30, 2017 of 1,551.69.
On March 1, 2017 this index stood at 1,414,82.
-Mutual funds
Cracks here, too.
Last week the year-to-date average cumulative total reinvested return for equity funds that fall under the broad U.S. Diversified Equity Funds heading, was +16.59% at the close of business on Thursday, December 7, 2017, according to Lipper. That’s down from the previous week’s return of +17.37%.
Fourteen of the 25 largest (most assets) funds around had year-to-date returns of over 20%. The most rewarding? The Fidelity Contrafund at +31.06%.
The least rewarding? Two of Vanguard’s bond funds: The Vanguard Total Bond II:Investors and the Vanguard Total Bond: Admiral. Both up +3.43% and +3.53% respectively.
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.
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Betting on Bitcoin
I’ve been watching the per share prices on the Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) for the past couple of years. Over the past year I’ve seen its share price go from a low of around $60 to a high of$1,905.55. And through it all I’ve thought about kicking myself for not buying at least a couple of shares.
The reason I didn’t pull the trigger was because of its so hugely volatile stock price. One day GBTC would spike up and a few days later fall dramatically.
But more important than deciding to buy into that trust was coming up with an answer about when to sell the shares.
I know myself well enough to know that if I had actually purchased shares at say 100 or even 300 bucks a share, I probably would have sold those shares when/if they doubled or tripled in price.
I believe in taking profits.
Oldsters might remember Fidelity’s super-duper fund manager Peter Lynch. Stocks that doubled in share price after he’d purhased them he refered to as a double-bagger. Those that tripled, a triple-bagger. And so on.
It’s not every day of the year, or week, or month that a stock’s price moves up by two-, three-, ten-fold or more. I know that.
I also know that it would have been real easy to have purchased GTBC at $100 a share, sell it at say $300 and then wish I had held on longer.
But the name of the Wall Street game isn’t about kicking yourself for what you didn’t do: It’s about making money for what you did do re your investment choices. Then moving on.
So not knowing how high–or low–a stock price will move over time is what makes investing such a seductive and mysterious game. And one not everyone is equiped to handle.
That said, as I wrote earlier, I believe in taking profits.
And then being glad they were there to be had–no matter how big or little the reward.
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allaboutfundsdotcom 