Bob's Journal
Found 587 Articles.
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Bob’s Journal for 5/30/19
The conflicts between the United States and China are escalating and having stronger effects on markets. When the conflicts began less than two years ago, markets would react. The reactions often were to presidential tweets but the effects on the markets weren’t lasting. Subsequent news reports, interviews or other tweets convinced investors that the two […]
Bob’s Journal for 5/23
The first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate led many investors to believe that the economy is stronger than it really is. The estimate indicated that GDP grew at a 3.2% annualized rate in the first quarter. That’s a big jump from the 2.2% rate of the fourth quarter of 2018. A major reason for the […]
Bob’s Journal for 5/16/2019
The latest annual report from the Trustees of Medicare and Social Security sparked a lot of discussion, but many of the conclusions people made are wrong. Every year, the trustees of Social Security issue a report to Congress and the public on the financial status of the program and its trust funds. You can find […]
Bob’s Journal for 5/9/2019
More Americans than ever are confident they will be able to live comfortably in retirement, but many of them could be fooling themselves. The percentage of retirees who are confident they’ll be able to live comfortably throughout retirement rose significantly from 2018 to 2019, according to the annual Retirement Confidence Survey from the Employee Benefits […]
Bob’s Journal for 5/2/19
Several stock indexes set new record closing highs in the last week, but not all the market data is positive. Most market observers look at data other than the levels of the indexes when assessing the markets. They look at data that collectively are known as market internals, technical factors or market action. Whatever you […]
Bob’s Journal for 4/25/19
Many investors misunderstand the recent changes in China’s economic policies, leading them to underestimate future growth. We recently added T. Rowe Price New Asia to some of our Retirement Watch portfolios, so it’s important to understand the changes. China tightened its economic policy about two years ago, because growth was higher than the country’s goals […]
Bob’s Journal for 4/18/19
The interest rate changes of the last few years tell an interesting story and provide lessons for later in 2019. One reason stocks and bonds appreciated following the financial crisis and especially from 2016-2018 is that the Fed tightened monetary policy much less than investors expected. After years of the Fed doing less than expected, […]
Bob’s Journal for 4/11/19
Closed-end mutual funds can increase your portfolio returns, but investing in them has an extra layer of risk. There’s a key distinction between closed-end mutual funds and the better-known open-end mutual funds. An open-end fund doesn’t have a fixed number of shares issued. Instead, at the end of each day, the fund company tallies the […]
