The bull market in stocks celebrates its eighth birthday today. As it turns out, it's also my birthday. This got me thinking about what was happening in the world when I turned 8. In 1980, the Pac-Man arcade game was released. Camcorders and fax machines were cutting edge technology. A whole lot of people were watching TV to find out Who Shot JR? on the popular soap Dallas. The yearly inflation rate in the U.S. was 13.6%. The average cost of a new house was $68,700. The average cost of a new car was $13,650. I'll also mention that a (government subsidized) hot school lunch cost $0.65 and milk was $0.05. Okay, enough about me.
Wall Street’s biggest bull turns bearish
For years, Tom Lee has been known as Wall Street's eternal bull. His S&P targets were virtually always the most bullish on the street. When I reviewed what other strategists were predicting this year and Tom Lee hadn't released his numbers, I just assumed he would be the most bullish on the street, again. Perhaps we should check to see if Tom Lee has been abducted by aliens and replaced by a clone because Tom Lee is the most bearish strategist on the street with a S&P target of just 2275.
Tom Lee: Republican “Revolution” Could Extend Bull Market
Runnymede has been bullish on the stock market since early July because of improving earnings and good value relative to fixed income. As we ahead to 2017, we remain positive. Former JP Morgan Chief Equity Strategist Tom Lee shares our enthusiasm for equities in a recent interview on CNBC.
S&P on track to post best earnings since 2014
As we move past Election Day, financial markets should be able to refocus on what truly matters: company fundamentals. This should serve as a catalyst to push equity prices higher with earnings finally back on the rise. It has been a tough period for earnings because of the strength in the US Dollar and extreme volatility in crude oil prices. This trend appears to have finally stabilized. The energy sector is expected to post a flat quarter after posting huge losses for the previous four quarters.
QE side effect: Corporations are getting paid to borrow
We have all seen pharmaceutical commercials on TV where a listing of common side effects may include diarrhea, nausea and drowsiness. In today's financial markets, central banks are expanding their balance sheets by trillions of dollars annually and new side effects are on the way. This week saw a new milestone in the world of negative interest rates, when Henkel and Sanofi became the first public companies to sell new Euro bonds for more than the buyers will get back.
Black swan watch: European banks
In 2007, Nassim Taleb published his best-selling book “”The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.”” Taleb contends that banks and trading firms are very vulnerable to hazardous Black Swan events and are exposed to losses beyond those that are predicted by their defective financial models. This proved to be right on the mark as one year later, the financial system almost collapsed due to poor financial models that predicted real estate prices would go up forever.