After a solid third quarter, investors began to wonder just how long the market could run without a healthy pullback. But those bracing for a market correction got caught flat footed as markets found a way to keep powering ahead in the fourth quarter. Domestic equity markets surged in anticipation of tax relief, emerging markets…
“Long ago, Ben Graham taught me that price is what you pay; value is what you get. Whether we are talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down” – Warren Buffett We pointed out in our recent quarterly commentary that a major countertrend movement was brewing in both…
First quarter market performance was as whippy and volatile as the weather. Unusually cold temperatures in the U.S. not only froze much of the country’s population, but it also wreaked havoc on the quality of economic data, and kept markets on edge regarding how investors should be positioned. Geopolitical issues also rose from the ashes…
The first weeks of 2014 have brought the return of market volatility. Pinnacle’s Chief Investment Officer, Rick Vollaro, explains why this is both a danger and an opportunity.
Back in the second quarter our theme was “consolidation and continuation”, meaning we were looking for a market correction that would lead into a continuation of the bull market (See April 20, 2012 “Looking Ahead to Second Quarter”). Well, the correction we were looking for clearly unfolded, taking the S&P 500 down about 10% between…
Since the stock market made its recent high on April 2nd (in the S&P 500), there has been a noticeable shift in sector performance. As they often do during periods of market indigestion, defensive sectors such as Health Care, Consumer Staples, and Utilities have been outperforming. Meanwhile, the cyclical sectors of the market that had…
During our Investment Team meetings, we have been discussing at length our ratchet strategy. According to Dictionary.com, a ratchet can be “a steady progression up or down: the upward ratchet of oil prices.” So, what does a ratchet strategy mean to us?
Despite the fact that stocks have had a good week, with the S&P 500 up a little more than 1.5%, we still view the market as being in the midst of a consolidation period, as Rick recently wrote.
What a ride this year has been in the markets. Volatility has been sucked out like water through an unplugged drain, any bad news has been quickly absorbed and discarded, and equities keep gliding to the upside. During this Bull Run, the market has climbed an enormous wall of worry, and has found a way…
In our Inside the Investment Committee presentation, I mentioned the great start to the year for high beta, domestic cyclical stocks (“high beta” refers to the volatility of the stock compared to the S&P 500). Small cap, semiconductors, miners, and energy stocks have more volatility when compared to the S&P 500 and therefore a higher…
