PEEK OF THE WEEK
September 24, 2018
Leif Hagen & Donna Roberts
The Markets
Did you hear the news?
A tech company introduced a
microwave you can turn on using Wi-Fi – as long as you have one of the
company’s voice assistants at home, reported Kaitlyn Tiffany of Vox. Soon, the voice assistants will be
built with neural networks that will formulate hunches about whether their
owners might like to be reminded to lock the door or turn off a device.
Some people love the idea.
Others don’t.
Internet-enabled appliances
weren’t the only show in town last week. The strong performance of the U.S.
economy earned a standing ovation from investors who pushed the Dow Jones
Industrial Index and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to new highs. Many
global stock markets moved higher, too. Ben Levisohn of Barron’s reported:
“One need only look overseas for a
sign that investors are feeling better about the state of the world – or at
least better enough to do some bargain-hunting. China’s Shanghai Composite rose
4.3 percent this past week, though it is still down 21 percent from its January
high…”
The news in a FactSet Insight written by John Butters may dampen some investors’
enthusiasm.
With the third quarter earnings
season ahead, Butters reported 98 of the companies in the Standard & Poor’s
500 Index have issued guidance. The majority (76 percent) issued negative
guidance, meaning they anticipate earnings will be lower than analysts’ mean
earnings per share estimates.
It’s important to remember that,
historically, the U.S. economy has moved in cycles. We may be in the latter
stages of this expansion. The next stage is contraction and no one can predict
exactly when it may occur.
Data as of 9/21/18
|
1-Week
|
Y-T-D
|
1-Year
|
3-Year
|
5-Year
|
10-Year
|
|
Standard & Poor's 500
(Domestic Stocks)
|
0.9%
|
9.6%
|
17.2%
|
14.2%
|
11.5%
|
9.3%
|
|
Dow Jones Global ex-U.S.
|
2.7
|
-4.3
|
0.0
|
6.8
|
2.1
|
2.0
|
|
10-year Treasury Note (Yield
Only)
|
3.1
|
NA
|
2.3
|
2.2
|
2.7
|
3.8
|
|
Gold (per ounce)
|
-0.3
|
-7.5
|
-7.2
|
1.9
|
-2.0
|
3.0
|
|
Bloomberg Commodity Index
|
2.4
|
-4.3
|
-0.5
|
-1.6
|
-7.9
|
-7.4
|
|
DJ Equity All REIT Total Return
Index
|
-0.4
|
3.2
|
5.8
|
9.2
|
9.7
|
8.2
|
S&P 500, Dow Jones Global ex-US, Gold, Bloomberg
Commodity Index returns exclude reinvested dividends (gold does not pay a
dividend) and the three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; the DJ
Equity All REIT Total Return Index does include reinvested dividends and the
three-, five-, and 10-year returns are annualized; and the 10-year Treasury
Note is simply the yield at the close of the day on each of the historical time
periods.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Barron’s, djindexes.com,
London Bullion Market Association.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. N/A means not
applicable.
millennials don’t exist! Gen Xers and the
Silent Generation get a lot less press than Millennials, but all three
generations have one thing in common. According to comedian Adam Conover,
“Generations in general don't exist. They're not real things that exist in
nature. We made them up…Here's what really exists: People who are alive at the
same time.”
He may have a point.
The only generation that has
been recognized officially by the U.S. government is the Baby Boom generation.
At least, that’s what a U.S. Census Bureau spokesperson told Philip Bump of The Atlantic. The Baby Boom generation
was recognized because its members were part of a demographic event. Encyclopedia Britannica explained the baby boom as:
“…the U.S. increase in the birth
rate between 1946 and 1964; also, the generation born in the U.S. during that
period. The hardships and uncertainties of the Great Depression and World War
II led many unmarried couples to delay marriage and many married couples to
delay having children. The war’s end, followed by a sustained period of
economic prosperity (the 1950s and early 1960s), was accompanied by a surge in
population. The sheer size of the baby-boom generation (some 75 million)
magnified its impact on society…”
So, where did other generations
originate?
Sarah Laskow of The Atlantic reported, until the 19th
century, generations were thought of as biological relationships within
families. For example, grandparents would be one generation, their children the
next, and their grandchildren the next, and so on.
The idea of societal generations
– people who live at the same time and experience the same things – came from
European intellectuals in the 1800s and early 1900s who advised, “people do not
react to their particular historical conundrums as a monolithic group.”
Every person is unique and
individual.
Weekly Focus – Think About
It
“The power of youth is the
common wealth for the entire world. The faces of young people are the faces of
our past, our present, and our future. No segment in the society can match with
the power, idealism, enthusiasm, and courage of the young people.”
--Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Prize winner and
activist
Leif M. Hagen
Leif M. Hagen, CLU, ChFC
LP Financial Advisor
Securities offered through LPL Financial Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC.
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* This newsletter was
prepared by Peak Advisor Alliance. Peak Advisor Alliance is not affiliated with
the named broker/dealer.
* The Standard & Poor's
500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged group of securities considered to be
representative of the stock
market in general. You cannot invest directly in this index.
* The Standard & Poor’s
500 (S&P 500) is an unmanaged index. Unmanaged index returns do not reflect
fees,
expenses, or sales charges.
Index performance is not indicative of the performance of any investment.
* The 10-year Treasury Note
represents debt owed by the United States Treasury to the public. Since the
U.S.
Government is seen as a
risk-free borrower, investors use the 10-year Treasury Note as a benchmark for
the long-term bond market.
* Gold represents the
afternoon gold price as reported by the London Bullion Market Association.
The gold price is set twice
daily by the London Gold Fixing Company at 10:30 and 15:00 and is expressed in
U.S. dollars per fine troy ounce.
* The Bloomberg Commodity
Index is designed to be a highly liquid and diversified benchmark for the
commodity futures market. The Index is composed of futures contracts on 19
physical commodities and was launched on July 14, 1998.
* The DJ Equity All REIT
Total Return Index measures the total return performance of the equity
subcategory of the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) industry as calculated
by Dow Jones.
* Yahoo! Finance is the
source for any reference to the performance of an index between two specific
periods.
* Opinions expressed are
subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or
to predict future performance.
* Economic forecasts set
forth may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that
strategies promoted will be successful.
* Past performance does not
guarantee future results. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal.
* You cannot invest directly
in an index.
* Consult your financial
professional before making any investment decision.
* Stock investing involves
risk including loss of principal.
* To unsubscribe from the
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Sources:
https://www.barrons.com/articles/dow-hits-record-amid-global-stock-rally-1537577592
(or go to https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/peakcontent/+Peak+Commentary/09-24-18_Barrons-Dow_Hits_Record_Amid_Global_Stock_Rally-Footnote_2.pdf
https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-dow-hits-a-record-high-as-tech-sits-it-out-1537580378 (or go to https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/peakcontent/+Peak+Commentary/09-24-18_Barrons-The_Dow_Hits_a_Record_High_as_Tech_Sits_It_Out-Footnote_3.pdf
