Day 164: Teflon - We're Up +24.45%
The Mother's Little Helper portfolio was up today +$3,004.55 (+0.42%).
Overall GAIN YTD: +$142,788.59 (+24.45%).
According to CNN Money our benchmark index, the S&P 500 is up +8.71% Year To Date (http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/).
Well, not much happened today...except the former director of the FBI, James Comey, testified before congress and didn't say nice things about the President. An uncertain election is taking shape in the UK amidst a series of terrorist attacks. Mario Drahgi left interest rates at the ECB alone when an increase was expected. The U.S Markets are awaiting the announcement of another rate increase by the Fed. The Pound is falling after May's Conservative party is projected to retain fewer seats than expected. Qatar has been black listed by the rest of the middle east. Qatar is the largest exporter of (LNG) Liquefied Natural Gas and one of their LNG ships just made a U-Turn and headed back home. That should send Nat Gas futures up a bit. Brexit is still unfolding so the true effects of Brexit are yet to be seen. Yesterday North Korea fired more missiles and today South Korea suspended it's installation of the U.S THAAD missile defense system. It was reported today that ISIS has committed more acts of terror during Ramadan than at any other time. Amidst all the fervor, terror and geo-political intrigue stocks hit a record high.
This market is the very definition of Teflon.
Investors have made a massive switch. At almost anytime in the past these geo-political events would have made investors sell off and hold cash until more certain times returned. At the very least investors would normally have rotated into defensive stocks for protection. Instead investors are remaining calm and waiting to see what impact any of these events will ultimately have on their investments while continuing to buy up shares of under appreciated companies. Personally this feels more rational to me than the emotional sell off's of the past. Yes there are big issues to be debated and resolved. Yes there are bad people in the world and bad things happen every day. While we cannot individually effect change on every event in the world, no matter how passionate we are about those events, we can effect change in one area. How we react to these events with respect to how they 'actually' impact our investments is important and within our control. This is not greed, it's not profiteering or a sell-out of your values; I assume your investments already reflect your values. This is the money we're saving for college, for a house, for a new baby, for a new business, for our parents, for our own retirement.
Stay Invested,
Clay Baker
Disclosure: I am personally invested long in these stocks that appear in the MLH portfolio and may purchase or sell share withing the next 72 hours. I am also invested in other stocks that do not appear in the MLH portfolio: BA, BRK.B, CELG, CSCO, CTXS, CVX, DOW, DVAX, FB, IBM, NTES, NVDA, OMER, PFE, PG, RDHL, SCHW, THO, TWX, VEEV, VZ, XLNX, XOM
I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
This article is not intended to offer investing advice, guarantee 100% accurate predictions, or to be interpreted as providing a personal recommendation.
