Tuesday, November 26, 2024
The markets are ugly. This market crash is ugly. Volatility, as measured by the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) just spiked to 32.76. Traders are running scared. Stocks are plunging. Inflation is out of control. Central banks are racing to cool inflation. The Dow fell from its April 2022 high of about 35,500 to 30,663. There […]
The combination of rising living costs due to inflation and crappy stock market results have many people rethinking their retirement plans. Here are a couple of recent excerpts from the financial press. This headline comes from CNBC: 25% of Americans are delaying retirement due to inflation, survey finds Then there’s this excerpt from a Wall […]
Inflation is hitting all of us pretty hard. The cost of living is rapidly increasing—most notably, we have seen gas prices increase substantially over the last year. While gas prices are the headline, consumers are being hit with rising costs everywhere. Food, rents, housing prices, gas prices, heating oil. It’s everywhere. That list doesn’t even […]
An intriguing way to hedge your portfolio’s downside risk for essentially no cost is by using a put spread collar. A large zero-cost put spread collar was placed last week on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) The trader sold calls and used the proceeds to purchase a put spread. The position will give a […]
Chinese stocks saw a significant amount of options activity last week when Chinese regulators appeared to ease up on some restrictive practices. Chinese internet giant Alibaba (BABA) was up 15% in a day, while trading over 1 million options. It looks like some of the biggest block trades were bullish call purchases in September and […]
Editor’s Note: In today’s article, guest contributor and Chief Income Strategist of The Oxford Club Marc Lichtenfeld gets controversial… In fact, he may even lose some friends. You see, Marc argues that eventually the government handouts are going to stop. And we’re going to have to fend for ourselves – especially in a market like […]
High inflation has become a driving force in our lives. It’s challenging to invest for income and keep up with inflation, especially outside of commodity-focused investments. We have to take an extra step to ferret out investments that will perform well while inflation stays high. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve will need higher interest rates to […]
A recent Financial Times article described the situation perfectly: “The world’s largest gas traders are scrambling to secure liquefied natural gas tankers ahead of winter after sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine triggered a reshaping of global energy flows.” It’s a great time to be an LNG shipper. The European Union has vowed […]
We’re in a broad bear market. There’s no getting around it. My indicators project we could see a relief rally but… for the most part… we’re in a down market. However, energy has bucked the trend and is doing very well right now. Some of the plays, like BPT, have already shot up 30%+… But […]
Through the first five months of 2022, the energy and utilities stock market sectors are the only ones in the black. And the energy returns dwarf the 3.8% posted by utilities. The other nine S&P-defined sectors are negative for the year, with five sectors down more than 10% and three down more than 20%. With […]
