Category: Stock Market
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Should Stock Buybacks Be Regulated?
Share buybacks have re-entered the news lately as part of the CHIPS Act. The CHIPS Act specifically bars any firms receiving government money from repurchasing shares for a number of years. The CHIPS Act is a piece of legislation that is part of the Biden administration’s initiative to restore microchip manufacturing in the US. All-in-all,…
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Investors Should Worry More About Quantitative Tightening
There is a lot of negative sentiment in markets now, just as inflation pain and recession fears began to ebb. Despite zero evidence, many investors were banking on the FED pivoting from the aggressive rate hikes sooner rather than later. Some investors got ahead, bidding stocks off their June lows for a mid-summer rally in…
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What A Year This Quarter Has Been
It has been a difficult quarter for investors. Major indexes entered bear territory (means down 20%). US treasuries, generally the safest of assets for when investors are scared, have had their worst year since the 70s (when interest rates go up, bonds go down). Commodities, which I generally say “they suck until they don’t,” have…
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The Economy: How Did We Get Here and Where Is It Going?
Markets have been getting a lot of attention lately beyond the financial media. The S&P 500 is down 21%, the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 is off over 29%, and the smaller company-oriented Russell 2000 is down over 24% year to date. Investors have a lot of concerns over the economy right now: Investors are facing a…
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Technology Sector Continues Selloff as Stock Market Falls
Markets are down significantly to start the year. The most reliable producers of earnings growth have begun to falter. Indexes are experiencing a broad-based sell-off led by big tech companies. Amazon, one of the largest companies in the S&P 500, dropped 14% on Friday to the lowest level since June 2020. Amazon lost $206.2 billion…
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Politicians Can’t Do Much About High Oil Prices
The price of oil is surging, and so is the debate over what is causing the fastest runup in recent memory. As we approach the midterm elections, candidates and the broader media will continue to discuss gas prices and inflation. What has caused the surge in oil prices, and can policymakers do anything about it?…
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401(k) Down? Blame Facebook
Facebook (I still refuse to call it Meta) has had a rough few months. Its stock has fallen over 40% since November. That is a phenomenal drop, especially for a company in the top ten of the S&P 500 Index. The size of Facebook and its plummet have helped drag the S&P 500 Index down…
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What’s Going on in the Markets?
Markets are off to a pretty rough start this year. The slide started around the end of November. Markets began to run out of steam with the Federal Reserve’s looming policy shift. The S&P 500 is down over 6% from the beginning of November, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq is down over 12%. Some of the…