Biz Headlines: “Dow Drops More Than 1,100 in Biggest One-Session Point Decline on Record” If President Trump sees fit to claim credit for the uptick in the economy and (especially) stock market since taking office, it stands to reason that he will take responsibility for any hiccup (or worse) in same. Yeah, right. My sentiment,...Read More
Balance Sheet vs. Income Statement Effects “It’s too soon to tell.” –Chinese premier Mao Zedong in the late 1940’s, when he was asked what he thought about The French Revolution. I know what Mao Zedong would have said about the gargantuan, $1.3 trillion tax reform bill just passed by the Republicans (zero Democrats voted in...Read More
Share Price Heaven [Editor’s Note: The views expressed here are solely those of Ross Kaplan, and do not represent Edina Realty, Berkshire Hathaway (“Berkshire”), or any other entity referenced. Edina Realty is a subsidiary of Berkshire.] Before I got religion on Amazon, you could say I was an “Amazon atheist” (or at least, an “Amazon...Read More
Retail Investors, Loss Aversion, and The Fear of Missing Out (“FOMO”) Being a good contrarian, let me toss this one out there: skyrocketing stocks may go higher yet from here. In fact, I see two factors fueling further gains, at least in the short run: One. “The Headline Factor” & (some) retail investors’ Fear of...Read More
2016 Presidential Election Aftermath Investors just got handed a classic lesson in not trying to anticipate “macro” events like elections: –Number of experts predicting Trump win: < 10 (anywhere on the planet. Maybe). –Number of experts predicting markets would go UP after Trump win: 0. Of course, it’s too soon to know whether markets will...Read More
Bullish and Bearish Bellwethers Just before the 1929 crash, Joseph Kennedy (father of President John F.) was supposed to have dumped all his stocks because a Wall Street shoeshine boy started giving him stock tips. Kennedy reasoned that, if even shoeshine boys were playing the market, there was no remaining, untapped demand to support stock...Read More
