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Oh so true
I’m forever looking for the simplest, the best and the most accurate way to help investors understand what’s going on in the world of making money on Wall Street.
To that end, CNBCs Josh Brown wrote a piece last week that’s worth reading titled, “Josh Brown: How I explain the stock market vs the economy”.
In a nutshell he writes: “One of the hardest things to do as an investsor is to entertain two opposing thought in our minds at once, and find a way to keep them despite the cognitive dissonance this can produce…..
“One of the most ironic aspects of investing is that the greatest gains lie ahead at time when things are bad, but not quite as bad as everyone suspects, and slowly, almost imperceptibly getting better. This is the moment when assets are selling at discounted values and the opportunities are laying at our feet, there for the taking…
“Conversely, the worst time to invest is once everyone agrees that the environment is teriffic and that the gains will continue as far as the eye can see. It is at this moment we find ourselves paying up for assets and competing with lots of other buyers…
“But most of the time, neither the economy nor the stock market is as good as it could get, or as bad as it could get.”
That pretty much says it all.
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Market Quick Glance
Holy moly….another up week for all three indices followed here with the biggest winner the NASDAQ index: It was up nearly 20% year-to-date as of Friday, April 5. That’s incredible and for some investors enough to sell their y-t-d short-term position on that index, go home and not play for the rest of the year. Then again, most folks aren’t day, week, or short-term investors.
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, April 5, 2019.
–DJIA 13.28% YTD up again from the previous week’s 11.15%.
- 1 yr. Rtn 7.83% up a bit from the previous week 7.57%
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 15.39% YTD up again from the previous week’s 13.07%
- 1 yr. Rtn 8.63% up from the previous week’s 7.33%.
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 19.64% YTD up lots from last week’s 16.49%%
- 1yr Rtn 12.18% up plenty from last week’s 9.43%
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
And what a quarter it was with the total return of the average U.S. Diversified Equity Fund ending the first quarter of 2019 at 13.27%. But wait, there’s more as time has passed.
And one week later the trend continued. At the close of business on Thursday, April 4, 2017, the year-to-date cumulative total reinvested performance of U.S. Diversified Equity Fund was 15.05%, according to Lipper.
The great big fat total return y-t-d winner under this huge umbrella category was Equity Leverage Funds, up on average over 30%. If I were a shareholder in an Equity Leverage Fund with a y-t-d return over 30%, I’d be tempted to take some money off the table. After all, we know the downside–performance of the high flyers could fall. Oh but then again, how high can returns go after moving up 30%? As always, nobody knows.
Mid-Cap Growth Funds continue to outperform the overall average—they were up 20.68% with Small-Cap Growth Funds nipping at their heels at 19.45%.
Under the Sector Equity Funds heading, it’s a science and tech performance world. Of the 70 Global Science/Technology Funds that Lipper tracks, the average was up 23.32%. Behind it the performance of the 185 Science & Technology Funds, the average y-t-d return was 22.02%.
Commodities Energy Funds, there are 21 of the, were up 22.01% while Commodities Agriculture Funds, 26 around, were off at -1.31%.
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 