pbTrumpBits#3

 

He’s back. And so are his long red ties.

Expect long delays today through Sunday on all three of the bridges that lead in to and out of Palm Beach as President Trump makes his fourth weekend visit to his private club/residence Mar-a-Lago.

The three bridges include the Flagler Memorial Bridge, the northernmost one, and a one-laner as it’s still under construction;  the Royal Park Bridge located in the center of the island; and the Southern Boulevard Bridge. It’s the southernmost bridge that connects West Palm Beach to Palm Bridge. It’s also  the one for-and-against protesters and the media use. And  the bridge  that the  presidential motorcade takes from the airport, PBI, to  Mar-a-Lago.

Additionally,  earlier today television coverage of the prez  coming down the stairs of Air Force One in Orlando  showed  him back to sporting a long red tie.

Someone ought to suggest that that look isn’t his best. Then again, a great title for a book about his presidency  could be “The Long Red Tie”. Putin might  love it.

 

 

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POCKETBOOK: Week ending Dec. 9, 2016

• Flying high…maybe

Everybody is flying high. From house and stock market prices to Donnie telling the world that yes he wants Boeing “to make a lot of money” re their contract with the government to build a  spanky new 747 Air Force One, just “not that much money.”

Really. Am I the only one who when they heard that thought it sounded a little like the kind of words  that would come out of the mouth of a dictator ? And,  what ever happened to free market capitalism and competition?

I bettcha if anyone ever tried to tell this President-elect how much money he could or couldn’t make on a deal—any deal— he’d tell them to go take a flying leap.

Speaking of leaps, expecting the equity markets to continue climbing to new heights for an extended period of time will require a leap of faith. A big leap.

Trees don’t grow to the sky.

 

• Market Quick Glance

Thank heavens that decisions made by President Obama and his Administration during his first year(s) in office laid the groundwork that allowed us to get out from under  the Great Recession and into a recovery plan that has worked and grown our economy over the past eight years. Had decisions made eight years ago not happened, it’s highly unlikely that the equity indices would have been able to reach the new highs they are currently enjoying.

At the close of business on Friday, December 9, 2016, it’s been estimated that $1 billion in new wealth has been added to the equity markets since the November election. Not surprisingly, on Friday all four of the indices followed here closed higher than they had the previous week.

Below are the weekly and 1-year performance results for four popular stock indices based on the close of business prices on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, according to Bloomberg.

-Indices:

-Dow Jones +16.43% YTD up a lot from last week’s 12.90%

• 1yr Rtn +17.52% up seriously from last week’s 10.33%

P/E Ratio 18.77 up a bit from last week’s 18.21

 

-S&P 500 +10.02% YTD up from last week’s 9.46%

• 1yr Rtn +7.65% up from last week’s 7.11%

P/E Ratio 20.60 up from week’s 20.50

 

–NASDAQ +7.31% YTD up from last week’s 6.30%

• 1yr Rtn +4.60% up from last week’s 3.61%

P/E Ratio 30.89 up from last week’s 30.60

 

–Russell 2000 +19.05% YTD up from last week’s 17.27%

• 1yr Rtn +14.44% up from last week’s 12.74%

P/E Ratio 46.27 up from last week’s 45.59

 

-Mutual funds

Stock fund shareholders have plenty to crow about as the YTD performance of the average U.S. Diversified Equity Fund closed up at 12.14% at the end of day on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, according to Lipper. That’s up substantially from previous week’s close of 8.55%.

Small-Cap Value Funds continued to gain ground— up on average 28.89%. Next in line were Equity Leverage Funds, up on average 26.15%. On the other hand, the biggest loser under this broad umbrella U.S. Diversified Equity Fund heading the includes 8,407 funds, was Dedicated Short-Bias Funds. The average one in his group was down on average 26.65%.

Looking at YTD returns for the 25 largest mutual funds around and American Funds ICA:A tops the heap— up nearly 15% (14.99% to be exact).

The average General Domestic Taxable FI Fund is up 7.15%. Under that category heading High Yield Funds were up 12.48% on average and Loan Participation Funds up 8.42%.

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.

• December

Billionaire Carl Icahn, and fan of the President-elect,  told CNN last week that the post election super rally on Wall Street has gone too far. “I personally think it’s a little overdone.”

With half of the month of December almost behind us, talking heads are wondering if this last month of the year will continue to reward investors. In the past, it historically has. But this year, who knows.

Something every investor does know is how their portfolio(s) have performed—-if  they’ve bothered to look. Look. You could find some financial rewards that are worth cashing in on.

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