Investing

Following the 2007-09 financial crisis, many investors decided they needed insurance on their portfolio to protect against the possibility of another “black swan” event and poured money into a host of new funds that were supposed to help if there was another downturn — long/short funds, tail risk strategies, absolute return funds, option hedging strategies, tactical asset allocation funds and the like - but they missed the idea completely. They were trying to plan ahead for uncertain events that could surprise everyone. Of course this is impossible, because you can’t hedge out the risks of unknown events - they’re unknown after all. So how should an investor protect oneself from another such occurrence? The answer is below.

There are so many articles - good and bad - available to read on the internet it is impossible to read them all. Many go under the radar because either the title of the article (an extremely important component) is insufficiently catchy to garner one's attention or, on the particular day they are posted, other articles come to the fore. Below are 8 - still very timely - articles you probably missed.

There is little the United States can do militarily to change the outcome in Ukraine...but this does not mean the United States is helpless. No sooner had the Russian invasion become clear than the White House announced the possibility of economic sanctions against Russia....By implementing such sanctions, the United States has moved in the direction of a new kind of warfare — not kinetic war involving ships, planes and missiles — but financial war involving cash, stocks, bonds and derivatives. The policy question, and an important question for investors, is how far can this type of financial warfare go and how effective can it be? What will the impact of financial war be on markets in general and investors in particular?

With both the fundamentals and the technicals saying the stock market is a risky place to be, we await its crash back to reality. Here's why.

Every time the number of, or specific constituent, companies change in the Dow index any comparison of the new index value with the old index value is impossible to make with any validity whatsoever. It is like comparing the taste of a cocktail of fruits when the number of different fruits and their distinctive flavours – keep changing. Furthermore, because of the application of the ever changing Dow Divisor, we are always comparing a basket of today’s apples with a basket of yesterday’s pears.

Copper has just met the lower resistance line of its descending triangle pattern and should it break through that resistance the price for copper could fall like a stone. That, in turn, would have a MAJOR "watch out below" impact on the future level of the S&P 500. Let me explain.

We fail to pay attention to the warnings signs as long as we see no immediate danger and keep our foot pressed to the accelerator believing that since it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t. This time is only “different” from the perspective of the “why” and “when” the next major event occurs. Below are analyses and exhibits to support that contention.

Stock market volatility, directed mostly to the downside this year, has caught the attention of anyone with funds at risk. The obvious question on most people’s minds is whether to get out or to put more money in. Advice going both ways is readily available. Here are some such articles. Take them into account and make your own decision regarding whether this correction is an opportunity to buy or a signal to sell.

Warren Buffett's favorite indicator - the ratio of the value of U.S. stocks to GDP - is seen by him as a reliable gauge of where the market stands and these days it suggests that all the main indexes are pointing to an imminent 50% crash.

The tables below provide an update of where the current S&P 500 bull market stands in comparison to prior bull markets in terms of duration and magnitude