Love him or hate him, the Trump presidency has triggered a massive bull market. Investors have poured money into U.S. stocks during the first year of the Trump White House.  The latest numbers reveal a 16% asset under management (AUM) growth rate for domestic equity funds in 2017. Domestic and international equity mutual funds led the charge with nearly 22% AUM growth to a level of just over $11 trillion during Trump’s first year in office.  Trillions in cash are left on the sidelines just waiting to be deployed into equity funds in 2018. I fully anticipate the accelerated growth… Read More

Love him or hate him, the Trump presidency has triggered a massive bull market. Investors have poured money into U.S. stocks during the first year of the Trump White House.  The latest numbers reveal a 16% asset under management (AUM) growth rate for domestic equity funds in 2017. Domestic and international equity mutual funds led the charge with nearly 22% AUM growth to a level of just over $11 trillion during Trump’s first year in office.  Trillions in cash are left on the sidelines just waiting to be deployed into equity funds in 2018. I fully anticipate the accelerated growth to continue into the first half of 2018 as the bullish fever continues to attract both domestic and foreign capital.  In fact, the performance of some mutual funds reminds me of the 1980s, when mutual funds were on fire as the prime choice for equity investors. However, interest rates are dramatically lower today, making the atmosphere for long-term business growth truly ideal. #-ad_banner-#I forecast that these winners of 2017 will continue their winning ways into the first half of 2018.  3 Mutual Funds To Keep An Eye On  1. T. Rowe Price Value (TRVLX) Investors who follow the value… Read More

Investing takes patience.  I was reminded of this over the Thanksgiving break as I impatiently waited for that derby-winning fish to bite. As I sat there bobbing in the boat trying to stay warm in the sub-30 degree temperatures in the panhandle of northern Idaho, I realized that fishing is similar to investing in the stock market.  —Sponsored Link— Will This Be The Apple Of Cannabis? As of July 2018, Marijuana will be fully legal in Canada and cannabis stocks are starting to fire back up as a result. But which will emerge as the… Read More

Investing takes patience.  I was reminded of this over the Thanksgiving break as I impatiently waited for that derby-winning fish to bite. As I sat there bobbing in the boat trying to stay warm in the sub-30 degree temperatures in the panhandle of northern Idaho, I realized that fishing is similar to investing in the stock market.  —Sponsored Link— Will This Be The Apple Of Cannabis? As of July 2018, Marijuana will be fully legal in Canada and cannabis stocks are starting to fire back up as a result. But which will emerge as the giants of industry and which will be flash in the pan stocks that are left behind in the bubble? Read this special report to learn more. You only hear about the big catches, just as you similarly hear only about how an investor made a killing on XYZ stock. What you don’t hear about is all the time in between… whether it’s catching that big fish or how long it took to finally bag that big winner (and how many losers it took to get there). To bag the derby-winning fish, you have to put in… Read More

I don’t like playing “futurist”. I’m going to try not to sound like an ineffective political campaign commercial, but the only way I can describe the healthcare in the United States is that it is broken. It may be beyond repair in its present form. I say this as both an expert and a consumer. The United States has the highest healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP among developed nations throughout the world. Currently, the nation spends 17% of its annual GDP on healthcare. In dollar terms, that comes to $3.06 trillion. The average amongst our peers is just… Read More

I don’t like playing “futurist”. I’m going to try not to sound like an ineffective political campaign commercial, but the only way I can describe the healthcare in the United States is that it is broken. It may be beyond repair in its present form. I say this as both an expert and a consumer. The United States has the highest healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP among developed nations throughout the world. Currently, the nation spends 17% of its annual GDP on healthcare. In dollar terms, that comes to $3.06 trillion. The average amongst our peers is just under 11%. In per capita terms, according to research from George Mason University, the United States spends, on average, $8,508 per person on healthcare. The average among developed nations is less than half of that, at $3,322. Meanwhile, as our healthcare costs escalate, so does our aging population. Pew research has determined that 10,000 members of the baby boom generation turn 65 every day. By 2030, when all boomers are 65 or older, they will account for 18% of the nation’s population. While I am an eternal optimist, I sincerely doubt the ability of our current healthcare system to care… Read More

Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition has ignited a flurry of rumors regarding what company may be the next target of the king of retail. Investors looking to ride the acquisition price jump are scrambling to invest before a buyout announcement.  While no one knows for sure what company will be next in line as an Amazon target, the following five names keep coming up on the Street. They are listed in order of most likely to be acquired to least. 1. Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) Amazon has its sights set on the home décor and furnishing sector. Bed… Read More

Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition has ignited a flurry of rumors regarding what company may be the next target of the king of retail. Investors looking to ride the acquisition price jump are scrambling to invest before a buyout announcement.  While no one knows for sure what company will be next in line as an Amazon target, the following five names keep coming up on the Street. They are listed in order of most likely to be acquired to least. 1. Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY) Amazon has its sights set on the home décor and furnishing sector. Bed Bath & Beyond, with its 1,100 standalone stores in North America, creates the ideal brick and mortar space for the internet behemoth to showcase its furnishing and home décor products. The chain could also provide widespread geographic locations for online ordered product pickup and return.  Amazon is in the catbird seat when it comes to understanding American moving habits. Consumers tend to purchase furnishing and home décor items when moving to a new home. And with over 60 million Prime members, Amazon knows exactly when folks decide to move as they change their shipping address. This information can be used… Read More

It’s perhaps the most hotly-anticipated, controversial, thought-provoking thing we do as a company. It could also be the most profitable thing you read all year. —Sponsored Link— Man Who Predicted Trump’s Victory Makes NEW Shocking Prediction He was one of the few who predicted Trump would win the Presidential election. He was even mocked on live TV for saying Hillary would lose. And now he’s making another shocking Trump prediction. HINT: The “fake news” media will NOT cover this developing story. Click here to see it. I’m talking about our annual… Read More

It’s perhaps the most hotly-anticipated, controversial, thought-provoking thing we do as a company. It could also be the most profitable thing you read all year. —Sponsored Link— Man Who Predicted Trump’s Victory Makes NEW Shocking Prediction He was one of the few who predicted Trump would win the Presidential election. He was even mocked on live TV for saying Hillary would lose. And now he’s making another shocking Trump prediction. HINT: The “fake news” media will NOT cover this developing story. Click here to see it. I’m talking about our annual predictions report. Each year, the research team behind our Game-Changing Stocks newsletter releases a set of investment predictions for the coming year. And because they challenge conventional wisdom so strongly, these annual forecasts are invariably the most talked-about market calls we publish all year. #-ad_banner-#I’m talking about the kinds of bold predictions and investing ideas you won’t find anywhere else. That’s because, to put it quite frankly, by the time you hear about these ideas in the mainstream financial media, it’ll be too late. The big gains will have already been made. And while we don’t pretend to have a… Read More

Consumer and corporate borrowing has rebounded this year, and the economy looks to book its third consecutive quarter over 3% growth for the final three months of the year. That would have shares of financial institutions booming were it not for two factors working against the industry. Shares of banks have underperformed this year on a narrow net interest margin, the difference between long-term and short-term rates, and continued regulatory costs from post-crisis legislation. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSE: KBE) has returned just 3.3% this year versus a 15% increase in the broader S&P 500 index. Despite increases in… Read More

Consumer and corporate borrowing has rebounded this year, and the economy looks to book its third consecutive quarter over 3% growth for the final three months of the year. That would have shares of financial institutions booming were it not for two factors working against the industry. Shares of banks have underperformed this year on a narrow net interest margin, the difference between long-term and short-term rates, and continued regulatory costs from post-crisis legislation. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF (NYSE: KBE) has returned just 3.3% this year versus a 15% increase in the broader S&P 500 index. Despite increases in the short-term benchmark rate by the Federal Reserve and more on the way, higher rates on the short end of the yield curve haven’t translated to higher long-term rates. Subdued inflation and fears over long-term economic growth have kept the rate on the 10-year Treasury well under 3% all year. That means the net interest spread, the difference between the rate paid by banks on deposits and what they collect on longer-term loans, has held back profits. #-ad_banner-#The other factor holding banks back is high regulatory costs for compliance and capital requirements, especially for banks listed as systemically important financial… Read More

Clues are emerging to what could be one of the biggest trends in 2018. The rate on the 10-year Treasury has jumped 15% since early September and is causing an investor exodus from one segment of the market. The selloff could get worse as rates rise further and a wave of debt threatens these companies’ already precarious financial health. In fact, as investors anxiously wait for tax reform, one proposal could actually cause taxes on this segment of the market to increase. It’s all lining up to be a harsh wake-up from years of debt-fueled growth and is certain to… Read More

Clues are emerging to what could be one of the biggest trends in 2018. The rate on the 10-year Treasury has jumped 15% since early September and is causing an investor exodus from one segment of the market. The selloff could get worse as rates rise further and a wave of debt threatens these companies’ already precarious financial health. In fact, as investors anxiously wait for tax reform, one proposal could actually cause taxes on this segment of the market to increase. It’s all lining up to be a harsh wake-up from years of debt-fueled growth and is certain to create winners and losers. #-ad_banner-#The Next Debt Crisis Threatens An Entire Segment Of The Market High-yield bonds saw 1% of their value wiped out in the first half of November. That may not sound like much, but it’s on pace for the worst month since January 2016.  Investor fears of rising rates and weak earnings for some sectors have caused an exodus out of highly leveraged companies. High-yield bonds in the telecom sector have lost 3.3% so far this month and investors pulled more than $2 billion from high-yield ETFs in just the second week… Read More

Most Americans don’t realize the world’s largest securities market is not the stock market. According to the World Bank, the global value of all publicly traded stocks is somewhere north of $70 trillion. But that’s more than one-third less than the value of the bond market – worth roughly $110 trillion. More importantly, with the explosion of debt financing, bond markets are growing much faster than global stock markets. For the uninitiated, bonds are a type of loan where companies and governments borrow money from investors. In exchange, investors receive interest payments based on the bond’s coupon (interest) rate. The… Read More

Most Americans don’t realize the world’s largest securities market is not the stock market. According to the World Bank, the global value of all publicly traded stocks is somewhere north of $70 trillion. But that’s more than one-third less than the value of the bond market – worth roughly $110 trillion. More importantly, with the explosion of debt financing, bond markets are growing much faster than global stock markets. For the uninitiated, bonds are a type of loan where companies and governments borrow money from investors. In exchange, investors receive interest payments based on the bond’s coupon (interest) rate. The investor continues receiving interest payments until the bond matures. At maturity, the investor receives the final interest payment as well as a return of the original investment. Should the borrower fail to return the principal at maturity, the borrower faces bankruptcy. Now, while the bond market has been growing rapidly, there’s an underlying problem of liquidity bubbling just beneath the surface. You see, prior to the financial crisis, large banks used their balance sheets to facilitate trading in the bond markets. They did this by purchasing large blocks of debt to hold until they could find a buyer for the… Read More

Second chances are rare in the financial world. Once the whole market knows about a price run, it’s often too late to participate. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule. Right now, there’s a massive bull market taking shape that’s similar to the raging dot-com boom of the turn of the century.  While there are significant differences between the two booms, the differences make the new bull market less risky and longer lasting than the original.  If you missed the internet boom of 1997 to 2001, you are not alone. Believe it or not, many investors failed to… Read More

Second chances are rare in the financial world. Once the whole market knows about a price run, it’s often too late to participate. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule. Right now, there’s a massive bull market taking shape that’s similar to the raging dot-com boom of the turn of the century.  While there are significant differences between the two booms, the differences make the new bull market less risky and longer lasting than the original.  If you missed the internet boom of 1997 to 2001, you are not alone. Believe it or not, many investors failed to participate in the exploding stock market during those heady times.  The good news is it’s not too late to participate in the next booming tech market!  #-ad_banner-#Lessons Of The Dot-Com Bubble I can’t say I blame the majority of those who missed the monster profits of the first internet boom. The Nasdaq soared from 1,000 to 5,100-plus, and stocks like Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) rocketed nearly 3,000% in value. At the end of the frenzy, the Nasdaq hit an outrageous price-to-earnings ratio of 200.  Rightfully fearful of the extreme valuations and warnings from luminaries like Warren Buffett, the majority of… Read More

There are few things that can send a stock soaring like a positive earnings surprise. When a company exceeds expectations, it sends a powerful message to the street that business is booming — or at least improving. High, positive earnings surprises can have a dramatic effect on share price. This effect is on display now, as third-quarter earnings season wraps up. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) delivered one of the best reports of the quarter, with earnings of $0.52 per share blowing past expectations of $0.01. The news sent shares of Amazon soaring 13% in one day, adding a mind-boggling $66 billion… Read More

There are few things that can send a stock soaring like a positive earnings surprise. When a company exceeds expectations, it sends a powerful message to the street that business is booming — or at least improving. High, positive earnings surprises can have a dramatic effect on share price. This effect is on display now, as third-quarter earnings season wraps up. Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) delivered one of the best reports of the quarter, with earnings of $0.52 per share blowing past expectations of $0.01. The news sent shares of Amazon soaring 13% in one day, adding a mind-boggling $66 billion to Amazon’s market cap in less than 24 hours. One way to profit from a positive earnings surprise is to predict which companies will beat the Street before it happens. #-ad_banner-#As you can see in the case of Amazon, this can be very profitable. However, it’s also a tricky move to pull off. It’s difficult to predict which companies will beat expectations. After all, you’re going up against the predictions of the world’s most successful and well-informed investment institutions.  Even if you’re right, it’s also difficult to predict how the Street will react to a report. But don’t… Read More