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Trump Math
By now we’ve all learned that President Trump isn’t well-versed in a number of things including American history, manners, telling the truth and yes, even math.
Last week he said that the stock market has gone up 40% since he was elected president. Better not take that to the bank never mind believe it.
According to CNBC.com, the S&P 500 is up 31% since Trump was elected president on Nov. 8, 2016. That’s a far distance from 40%. Additionally, the lion’s share of those gains were made last year in 2017. So far this year, the S&P has gained around 4%.
Math matters to every investor sophisticated or not, Democrat, Republican, Independent or the Un-politically interested.
Bottom line: Betting on Trump’s math could be detrimental to one’s portfolio expectations.
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Market Quick Glance
A few ups and a few downs but what counts the most is how your portfolio is doing.
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, July 20, 2018.
–DJIA 1.37% YTD up a tiny bit previous week’s return of 1.21%.
- 1 yr Rtn 15.95% down from the previous week’s 16.08 %
Most recent DJIA all-time high was reached on January 26, 2018 of 26,616.71. The previous high was reached January 18, 2018 was 26,153.42.
-S&P 500 4.80% YTD up a hair from last week’s 4.78%
- 1 yr Rtn 13.28% down from last week’s 14.44%
The S&P 500 reached its most recent all-time high on January 26, 2018 of 2,872.87. The previous high was reached on January 19, 2018 of 2810.33.
-NASDAQ 13.28% YTD down a bit from last week’s 13.36%
- 1yr Rtn 22.38% down from last week’s 24.73%
Nasdaq reached a new 52-week high on July 17, 2018 of 7,867.15. The previous high was reached on July 13, 2018 of 7,843.53.
-Russell 2000 10.50% YTD up from last week’s 9.87%
- 1yr Rtn 17.64% down from last week’s 18.34%
The Russell 2000 reached a new 52-week high on July 10, 2018 of 1,708.56. The previous high was reached on June 20, 2018 of 1,708.1.
-Mutual funds
A y-t-d total return for the average equity fund has handsomely outperformed the year-to-date returns of the DJIA and S&P500 by a couple of percentage points.
And, at the close of business on Thursday, July 19, 2018, the total return performance of the funds under the U.S. Diversified Equity Funds heading had an average return was 6.49%, according to Lipper.
To compare, th DJIA on Friday had a y-t-d return of about 1.4% and the S&P 500, 4.8%.
Nonetheless, it’s first still a small cap world as the average cumulative total return for Small-Cap Growth Funds continue to be the out performers averaging 17.41% returns, followed by Mid-Cap Growth funds, 12.34% then Multi-Cap Growth, 12.32%.
The only other category of funds coming close to the Small-Cap performance was Science & Tech Funds with a y-t-d average return of 15.57%.
On the other hand, the average y-t-d Commodities Base Metals Funds performance stinks— it was -17.85%.
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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Golden Cross
The price of gold can’t seem to get out of its own way.
Gold analysts are now saying that the price of this precious metal has entered into a death cross. My, that’s ugly. And, that they don’t see anything but more bad news ahead.
A death cross is a bearish technical signal that happens when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day average. And that’s not happy news for those betting on the price of gold moving out of the woods anytime soon.
On the other hand, gold could be a buy for bottom buyers and those who consider themselves long-term optimistic investors.
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