With stocks rallying and the Obama-to-Trump transition going smoothly so far, the initial worries about a Trump election causing market turmoil haven’t materialized.Meanwhile, investors are making guesses about the impact Trump would have on various industries and stocks.As we mentioned yesterday, pharma and biotech stocks are rallying. But technology stocks… Read More

The voters have spoken.What does it mean for investors?First, the much-feared Trump Selloff didn’t last long. S&P 500 futures tanked as Trump’s victory unfolded – plunging as much as 5% in overnight trading — but then recouped the entire loss as bargain hunters swooped in – the largest 12-hour… Read More

Election Day, at last.From Key West to Nome to Honolulu, millions of Americans are heading to the polls today to exercise their right to vote in the world’s oldest democracy. It’s a stirring and encouraging ritual – a tonic for the wounds and bruises of a brutal campaign.Whatever the outcome,… Read More

To paraphrase Gerald Ford, our long national nightmare is almost over.Barring a recount or challenge, we’ll know our next president by early tomorrow morning. And not a moment too soon.It’s been a brutal campaign. The contrast between the candidates couldn’t be starker. Neither could the claims of catastrophic consequences should… Read More

The last jobs report before the election was good news for the Clinton campaign.The October report, released this morning, showed job creation of 161,000, with unemployment dropping to 4.9%. While slightly lower than the consensus estimate of 175,000, the number of jobs created was strong enough to reflect a… Read More

How fast did the U.S. economy grow in the third quarter? We’ll get our first glimpse tomorrow.The initial GDP number for the third quarter will be revised, but it’s significant as the last big economic report before Election Day – and, potentially, as further confirmation of a Fed rate hike.We… Read More

AT&T’s proposed $85.4 billion deal to buy Time Warner is the latest and largest mega-media merger. It won’t be the last.Here’s why: AT&T andVerizon make their money giving customers high-speed Internet service at home, pay TV channels and, in some cases, Internet access to mobile devices.The shorthand labels for these… Read More

Bloomberg had an article yesterday about “where the next crisis will come from.” The list included unsettled politics, problem banks and growing debt.Guess what? That’s a woefully incomplete list. But don’t expect me to complete it because the truth is we don’t know what the next crisis will be.Part… Read More

Tonight’s the final presidential debate.Oh. Boy. Like most Americans, I just want this campaign to end. Can we just fast-forward to Election Day and move on?In fact, the more relevant debate for investors is: what to buy now?U.S. stocks, foreign stocks, bonds? Or maybe increase cash, like the pros are doing?In… Read More

Professional investors have more of their portfolios in cash than at any time since 9/11.That’s remarkable—and a hopeful sign for the market in 2017.As we’ve said before, the U.S. stock market is vulnerable to a correction. Valuations are high, interest rates are likely to move higher, and there’s a not-insignificant… Read More