The Markets Have Stalled: What Factors Are Weighing In?

The last week of June has been rather bearish for Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has retreated from over 21,500 to its current level of 21,367.58. While still impressive, the recent losses have dampened expectations somewhat. The S&P 500 index has also performed in a similar fashion, declining from the 2,450 support level to its current level of 2,425.63. And the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index is down from a week high of 6,290 to its current level of 6,161.73. The weekly performance of Wall Street bourses should not be perceived as a barometer of the overall strength of …

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Is the Stock Market in a Bubble?

Written by Ben Carlson Investors seem to carry emotional scars from the dotcom bubble in 2000, and the debt bubble of the 2008 to 2009 Financial Crisis. Both bubbles caused massive losses for investors. Hindsight bias causes us to look at past events and assume they were much more predictable than they actually were at the time.  It’s the “I-knew-it-all-along phenomenon.” Since those crashes are so fresh in our memories, we are now subject to knee jerk reactions. Any time an investment rises in substantially in price we hear a chorus of bubble calls. Morgan Housel of the Motley Fool …

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Go Global for Higher Yield Dividend Stocks

Written by Ben Carlson One of the biggest fears investors have right now, is that interest rates will rise substantially from their current historically low levels. Many believe this inevitable interest rate increase could lead to the underperformance of dividend paying stocks. Bonds are directly impacted by an increase in rates, but other income producing investments such as REITs, preferred stocks and dividend stocks could also be adversely affected. See my previous post – The Risks of High Yielding Investments. Since bond yields have been so low for so long now, dividend stocks have enjoyed a strong rise and have probably …

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