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What a quarter
When 2018 came to a close, generally speaking, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for robust returns coming round by the end of Q1 in 2019. But that was months ago thinking. Today, the proof in the pudding has been revealed and 2019’s first quarter was a whopper with all indices scoring big.
According to a recent piece at CNBC.com by Bob Pisani, the quarter’s gains were shared across the board with technology stocks leading the most, up 17 percent, oil rallying from $43 at year’s end to almost $60 at the end of March 2019, industrial stocks up 15 percent with 90 percent of S&Ps stocks up.
And that’s all happened with the worries about what an inverted yield curve could mean to equities going forward and investor thinking.
From where I sit, the only investor thinking that matters is how you—the individual investor—are thinking. Did you rethink your personal and retirement portfolio after seeing your 2018 returns? If you did, are you glad you did, sorry you fiddled with things and/or wished you had let things go on as they were.
Whatever. The only right answer with respect to assessing quarterly–or annual– market returns is how your investments are holding up and serving you.
As in life, everyone’s portfolio holdings are as different as is the size of each of our noses, ears, waistlines and our income, savings and retirement accounts.
May each grow respectfully over time.
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Dividend paying stock ideas from Louie
I’ve always been a big fan of dividend paying stocks. Once upon a time, and when I first became a stockbroker in the early 1980’s, word was stocks paying dividends were considered a good conservative play for widows and orphans. Forget the images that thought conjures up, dividend paying stocks have pretty much always been a good play for most types of investors—the married, widowed, young, old, single, divorced, the rich and underfunded.
In Louis Navellier’s Marketmail newsletter dated March 26, 2019, he suggested investors research and consider these big blue-chip dividend paying stock ideas:
- PepsiCo Inc. (PEP). It pays a dividend yield of 3.07% and owns brands like Diet Pepsi, Aquafina, Doritos, Lays, Lipton, Gatorade, Fritos, and Mountain Dew.
- Kimberley Clark (KMB) pays 3.38%
- Dominion Energy (D) paying 4.86%
- PPL Corp. (PPL) paying 5.13%
- Verizon (VZ) paying 4.06%
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Market Quick Glance
And what a week it was with all three of the indices bringing home the bacon deliciously in their year-to-date returns.
Below are the weekly and 1-year index performance results for the three major indices—DJIA, S&P 500 and NASDAQ — including the dates each reached new highs. Data is according to CNBC.com and based on prices at the close of business on Friday, March 29, 2019.
–DJIA 11.15% YTD up a jump from the previous week’s 9.32%.
- 1 yr. Rtn 7.57% up from the previous week 6.45%
Most recent DJIA a new ALL-TIME CLOSING HIGH was reached on Oct.3, 2018 of 26,951.81. The previous high was reached on Sept. 21, 2018 of 26,796.16.
-S&P 500 13.07% YTD a jump up from the previous week’s 11.72%
- 1 yr. Rtn 7.33% up from the previous week’s 5.94%.
The S&P 500 reached a BRAND NEW CLOSING ALL-TIME HIGH on Sept. 21, 2018 of 2,940.91. The previous closing high was reached on August 29, 2018 of 2,916.50.
-NASDAQ 16.49% YTD up from last week’s 15.18%%
- 1yr Rtn 9.43% a jump up from last week’s 6.64%
Nasdaq reached a BRAND NEW 52-week CLOSING HIGH on August 30, 2018 of 8,1333.30. The previous high was reached on August 24, 2018 of 7,949.71.
-Mutual funds
Repeat from previous week ending March 21, 2019:
The year-to-date cumulative total reinvested performance of U.S. Diversified Equity Fund was 14.26% at the close of business on Thursday, March 21, 2019, according to Lipper.
Among the 408 Mid-Cap Growth Funds that fall under that huge Diversified category, the average year-to-date return was an impressive 20.17%. Small-Cap Growth Funds, however, performed better: 20.37% for the 592 funds that Lipper tracks in that group.
And then there are Equity Leverage Funds—-the average YTD performance of the 228 funds under that heading was 28.36%.
On the other hand, Dedicated Short Bias Funds’ average YTD return was -20.61%.
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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allaboutfundsdotcom 