Although at the same time: US home sales in 2024 fell to the lowest level in nearly 30 years as prices, and mortgages, soar https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-home-sales-2024-fell-150158468.html TAKE YOUR PICK.....as to this post and the prior post.
Talking about the SP500: Vanguard’s S&P 500 Fund Is About to Become World’s Largest ETF https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vanguard-p-500-fund-become-132929244.html "Nearly $18 billion has flowed into Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF (ticker VOO) in the opening days of 2025 — more than five times the amount attracted by the closest runner-up — after breaking the record for annual inflows last year with a $116 billion haul, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Assets in the fund have ballooned to $626 billion, putting it on the cusp of eclipsing the $637 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) — currently the world’s largest ETF."
We have now turned red in all the averages. BUt....this is the basic markets this week and today. S&P 500 touches new record, heads for second big weekly gain in a row https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/23/stock-market-today-live-updates.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "The S&P 500 reached new records on Friday as optimism around the start of President Donald Trump’s term continued. The benchmark traded around flat after hitting a fresh intraday record in the session. The Nasdaq Composite also flickered around its flatline. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 100 points, or 0.2%. Excitement toward Trump’s pro-business policies pushed risk assets higher this week with investors focused on his inauguration. Traders were also relieved that there have only been threats on the tariff front from Trump — instead of formal action — during his first few days in the White House. All three major averages are on track to post their second positive week, signaling the bull market is back in full force after December’s pullback. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have each risen around 2% week to date, while the Dow climbed 2.2% Friday’s action comes after Trump said on Thursday that he would “demand that interest rates drop immediately” when addressing world leaders in Davos, Switzerland. The president also said he would ask Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to lower the price of oil. In addition to hitting an all-time intraday high, the S&P 500 also closed at a record on Thursday following those comments. That means the market has completely erased losses recorded during December’s slump. “So far, markets have reacted to every statement made by the President, even those that should not have any impact,” said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert. “This shows that traders have not yet settled into their pace.” Novo Nordisk rallied more than 7% following positive early-stage results for a weight-loss drug. Texas Instruments, on the other hand, slid more than 4% on weak earnings guidance. Investors are also gearing up for next week, where attention will turn to big technology earnings and the Federal Reserve meeting." MY COMMENT How quickly we recovered from the dismal markets of the past 3 weeks. I believe I was at a new ALL TIME HIGH yesterday. Celebrating the short term.....as a long term investor.
The markets have flipped....RED. And I can see from the ticker that I have also flipped red....since I now only have three stocks that are up. Lets hope it is just the mid morning weakness....that we often see after a big gain day....as profit takers swoop in. What it is.....it is. EVERYTHING in the short term....is just NOISE.
TireSmoke mentioned previously being in a Blackrock Target Date Fund. I was just looking at the Blackrock target date fund for 2060. For people that have about 35 years till retirement. In other words people that are about age....25 to 30. Equity in fund...about 84%. BUT......one year return....+20.84%. Five year return.....+9.96%. For comparison the SP500 five year return.....+85.57%. Return over the entire life of the fund...+11.77%. INSANE in my view. The fund holds......about 35%....in international stocks. CRAZY in my view. https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/lizkx/performance Anyone on here own any Target Date Funds? What has your experience been like and are you still in the Fund? Positives? Negatives?
Hi everybody, Im sorry for this late reply, I was work travelling abroad and not much time to answer, I try to keep an eye here when I can late at night, but not much availability to type. In Portugal investing for common people is buying property, RE in fact, same way as Strathmore explained in Croatia. Very, very similar pattern! Plan B is holding money in bank accounts, but typically loosing money, because normal interest paid (180 days, 1 year etc) is lower than inflation. It is not surprising, financial literacy is very poor. People simply dont know, but salary packages are weak, savings not expressive so these themes are not on top of people priorities. Most people I know with some financial strenght simply dont invest in stock market. They dont know, they are afraid, they had bad experience so they keep beeing extremly conservative.
Thanks RG....I had no idea that Real Property was so big in Europe. It also sounds like few people there invest in the markets. I am surprised. This is why it is nice to be able to ask people that live in different countries. Anyone else in any other countries?
I ended with a medium size loss today....no hope for a gain. I also got beat by the SP500 by......1.02%. BUMMER.
BUT....in spite of the losses today it was still a very good week. I had a definite gain this week....(see below). Here is the week that was: DOW year to date +4.79% DOW five days +2.57% SP500 year to date +3.97% SP500 five days +1.77% NASDAQ 100 year to date +3.80% NASDAQ 100 five days +1.29% NASDAQ year to date +3.49% NASDAQ five days +1.52% RUSSELL year to date +3.41% RUSSELL five days +1.14% As for me.....I had a good gain in my year to date this week. last week my entire portfolio was at.....+1.46%....year to date. At the close today my entire portfolio was at a year to date gain of.....+3.84%. Starting to build up a bit of a cushion....if we can keep things rolling along.
I love it as a shareholder. Alphabet shares close above $200 for first time on split-adjusted basis https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/24/alphabet-shares-close-above-200-value-for-first-time.html "Key Points Alphabet shares closed above $200 for the first time on Friday. While the Google parent faces regulatory hurdles and increased competition, analysts are generally optimistic about the company’s opportunities in artificial intelligence."
AND.....as a NVDA shareholder....I also like the sound of this: Facebook owner investing up to $65 billion toward AI in 2025 Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces major investments: 'This will be a defining year for AI' https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/facebook-owner-investing-65-billion-ai-2025 "Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms is planning to spend as much as $65 billion this year alone to build on the social media company's artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday."....... "The founder said Meta is building a massive data center to power it all, with plans to invest between $60 billion and $65 billion in 2025, adding, "and we have the capital to continue investing in the years ahead.""
You know it is amazing that here in the USA we mostly take stock and fund investing as the norm for most people. Between taxable brokerage accounts, IRA accounts, and 401K accounts, as well as company stock plans....... a large percentage of Americans are stock and fund investors. Lately some of our International posters on here have shown us that this is NOT the norm around the world.....and they are mostly in the EU. Think of Central and South America....think of Africa.....think of the Middle East....think of Russia and China and India and Asia. We are actually a RARE bunch here in this country and on this thread. The rest of the world is probably back where things were here when my mom started investing back in the 1950's....when it comes to the percentage of the population that are stock and fund ivnestors. Back than it was very RARE for an American to have any sort of stock or fund investments. A recent lesson in how much we take for granted here in this country and how the world is a very different place....depending on where you happen to live. "Investing in the 1950s According to the first share owner census undertaken by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1952, only 6.5 million Americans owned common stock (about 4.2% of the U.S. population)." https://www.google.com/search?q=historical+percentage+of+americans+that+invest+in+stocks+in+the+1950's&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=846431bb0443e180&biw=1106&bih=655&ei=EGWUZ52JBsviwN4P1JS5MQ&ved=0ahUKEwid0eOYgZCLAxVLMdAFHVRKLgY4ChDh1QMIEA&uact=5&oq=historical+percentage+of+americans+that+invest+in+stocks+in+the+1950's&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiRmhpc3RvcmljYWwgcGVyY2VudGFnZSBvZiBhbWVyaWNhbnMgdGhhdCBpbnZlc3QgaW4gc3RvY2tzIGluIHRoZSAxOTUwJ3NI4ChQjAhYriZwAXgBkAEAmAFMoAGvB6oBAjE0uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIBoAIJwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR5gDAIgGAZAGB5IHATGgB_YE&sclient=gws-wiz-serp Investing in the 1950s Only 6.5 million Americans owned common stock (about 4.2% of the U.S. population). Most people in the 1950s stayed away from stocks. Investing was also more time consuming and expensive in the 1950s than it is now. Fixed commissions were the norm......quite high and non-negotiable. Execution of stock trades, from initial contact between an investor and a broker, to the time the trade ticket was created and executed, took a considerable amount of time. Investment choices in the 1950s were quite limited. The great Mutual Fund boom was years away,.........the concept of overseas investing was non-existent. Active stock prices were also somewhat difficult to obtain. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/09/stocks-1950s-1970s.asp MY COMMENT It is amazing that my mom was a stock investor in the 1950's. I am sure being a female....... makes it much more RARE. I am not sure I would have become an investor if I had not been exposed to what she was doing through my childhood. Thanks....Mom.
What a long time disaster of a company. NO profit since 2018. Total management failure. BRUTAL. Boeing Early Q4 Results Hammered By Strike Impacts, Delays https://finance.yahoo.com/m/d6ec187b-591c-39b6-9bcc-ff56cf0f9b05/boeing-early-q4-results.html "Boeing (BA) expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of $5.46 per share, widening from a loss of 4 cents last year. The company forecasts revenue of $15.2 billion, down from $22 billion last year. FactSet analysts had expected a loss of $1.52 per share, but lowered their estimates to a $1.81 per share loss following the release. Analysts expect the company to report $16.47 billion in revenue" "The firm had not posted an annual profit since 2018......" https://www.investments.halifax.co.uk/research-centre/news-centre/article/?id=18645080&type=bsm
"Interesting....Very Interesting"....(Maxwell Smart) Wall Street Enters Darker Age With Most Stock Trading Hidden https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wall-street-enters-darker-age-110003632.html (BOLD is my opinion OR what I consider important content) "(Bloomberg) -- Here’s a surprising new fact about the world’s largest and most-liquid public equity market: Most of the activity on it isn’t public anymore. For the first time on record, the majority of all trading in US stocks is now consistently occurring outside the country’s exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. This off-exchange activity — which happens internally at major firms or in alternative platforms known as dark pools — is on course to account for a record 51.8% of traded volume in January. Barring an unexpected dip, it will be the fifth monthly record in a row, and the third month running that hidden trades make up more than half of all volume. In other words, the shift “appears to be developing into a longer-term trend and quite possibly a permanent one at that,” Anna Ziotis Kurzrok, head of market structure at Jefferies, wrote in a note to clients this month. Off-exchange trading has been a growing feature on Wall Street for years, but until now public venues including the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have retained overall dominance of market activity. That’s important because exchanges display the quotes that most participants use to price stocks. The shift toward off-exchange trading is the culmination of a years-long trend, which if it continues could eventually have implications for how the market functions, according to Larry Tabb, head of market structure at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Theoretically the more trading that goes off-exchange, the fewer orders there are on-exchange competing to determine the best price,” he said. “This means the pricing on and off-exchange could get worse.” The Securities and Exchange Commission has in recent years taken steps to try to push more activity back on-exchange by revamping market structure. Of four proposals made by the SEC, only two rules — that tweak the way stocks get priced and trades are executed on and off-exchange — were ultimately passed. For now the threat to market efficiency remains a distant concern, with 48.2% of trades in January still happening on-exchange. Instead, the change is perhaps more useful as an indicator of the evolving market landscape. Kurzrok at Jefferies notes that the surge in off-exchange activity corresponds with increased volumes in stocks worth less than $1, which are typically traded by retail investors. That makes sense, since that business is often handled internally by market-making giants like Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial. When those sub-dollar stocks are stripped out of the data, off-exchange trading remains below 40% of total volume, according to calculations by Jefferies. So the apparent shift away from exchanges “doesn’t necessarily mean trading in one stock or all stocks is going to be worse off on any particular day,” Kurzrok said. Meanwhile, the number of off-exchange venues that offer an alternative, anonymous way to process trades has been growing. These alternative-trading systems, or ATS, use different mechanisms to match buyers and sellers without the desired price being displayed on a public exchange, or automated auctions where parties express the value they are willing to buy or sell stocks for. Using those venues helps institutional investors limit information leaking to the market and adversely affecting prices. “This new style of trading is different,” said Joe Saluzzi of Themis Trading. “The bigger institutions seem to have a better experience where they can command more value.” About 1.7 billion shares a day changed hands on an ATS in November, the most since March of 2020 and 36% more than a year prior, according to analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence. At Nasdaq, the second-largest US exchange, Head of Strategic Operations and Public Policy Chuck Mack says the worry is that the move toward off-exchange could ultimately make pricing less efficient and drive up costs for investors and issuers. “Sometime down the road we may look back and say, ‘how did we get here?’” Mack said. “It’s like boiling a frog. If you boil a frog, the temperature slowly rises, it doesn’t realize and doesn’t jump out so it dies. You don’t realize until it’s too late.” MY COMMENT As investors we take it for granted that the exchanges are efficient and reflect proper pricing for stocks and funds. That pricing is fair and the same for everyone. This trend is a distinct threat to this assumption. It is also an indication that the....little retail investor.....may not be getting the same pricing as the BIG PROFESSIONALS. If this trend continues it is yet another potential.......disruptor of TRUST in the markets. Not that I am going to worry about it.....since there is nothing I can do.
I'm thinking about Dave Ramsey's article you posted day or two ago, which tells how today in USA is normal to be broke. People work hard, invest their money and they're still broke.
Well......many of those people are either not employed or are employed in jobs outside of big companies and thier employer does not offer a 401K. The percentage of investors in this country is.......WAY LESS.......if you take out employer 401K plans. And....even here....we have a good percentage of the population that can not manage their money or budget. Many here in the USA are living pay-check to pay-check. In many ways I suspect that people in the EU are much more disciplined with their money than here in the USA. I see articles just about every day about how the average American is way under-funded for their retirement.
YIPPEE-Kai-Aee. Looks like the first....STARGATE...is being built here in Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas.....including big hair and big hats. https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-stargate-data-center-build-cost-2025-1
And for Strathmore.....regarding the Strathmoore post and my reply above......we have a saying here in Texas......"ALL HAT AND NO CATTLE". I agree with you Strathmore that many people here......even with good jobs.....are dismal at managing their finances. That is one reason for this thread.
