I just got back and looked at my account. On Friday I had a SMALL gain in my stocks. thanks to AMZN, COST, and NVDA.
For the week I ended with a year to date total gain in my entire account at.....+29.70%. Last week my entire account was at......+27.05. SO....a little bit of a Santa Rally. Lets see if we can keep it going next week.
Speaking of SANTA: After 2 straight misses, this year’s ‘Santa Claus rally’ is off to a solid start. Why it matters for investors. Santa skipping Wall Street for a third year in a row would be unprecedented, data show https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a...y-it-matters-for-investors-6cb84a4f?st=4QNkcc
I like this little article. "So welcome to Festivus 2025. This year, we have invited contributions from other MarketMinder writers—more friends coming to gripe together this holiday season. With that preamble out of the way, we again state: We have a lot of problems with financial commentary. And now you are going to read all about them!" The article includes: Stop Making the Ordinary Extraordinary – Elisabeth Dellinger Enough With the Alphabet Soup – Todd Bliman Stop With the R-Word Already – Elisabeth Dellinger Antisocial Quoting – Chris Wong Reading Way Too Much Into Societal Trends – Reed Guernsey “Worst X since Y!” – Sam Lerner Bring back creativity! – Elisabeth Dellinger Festivus 2025: Gather Round the Pole for Our Grievances Our second annual roundup of annoyances with financial commentary. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/e...2025-gather-round-the-pole-for-our-grievances AMEN to this article....ALL of these certainly drive me CRAZY.
LORI.....that article posted by RG above mentions the Isle Of Wright. I found it an interesting article. Sounds like lots of small towns in rural Texas.
This is why I LOVE to see NVDA investing in other companies and making deals with their HUGE pot of money. Nvidia's Groq deal underscores how the AI chip giant uses its massive balance sheet to 'maintain dominance' https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nvid...ce-sheet-to-maintain-dominance-183347248.html
I also enjoyed reading it, reminded me that this pattern or phenomena is common in many places, namely in rural areas here in Portugal. In a general way I think it is pretty common in several other places in western Europe, where I frequently travel due to work reasons or leisure. Spain faces same problem, except Basque Country, Madrid area and Catalonia, you have space and no people. South Italy same. France a little less but same pattern in many parts. Many other examples could be told. Even here we have a completly unbalanced country. Our coastal line including a stripe of maybe 30 miles inside have roughfly 85% of population living. Only our two main cities (Lisbon and Oporto) hold 40%, around 4 million people. Rural areas are semi desertified, what is a cenary quite common in some parts of Europe. Reasoning is simple, common in every place: people follow jobs. If there's no jobs offer, people leave, move, as simple as data. And no people means no justification for schools, courts, health care offices, public offices in general, banks, stores etc etc. A negative spyral effect. So how do you break that chain or at least slow down that effect? Decentralize as many public services as possible (p.e. department of education does not need to be in Lisbon), assure you have decent rail/road acess networks, fiscal reward people/companies moving to that areas. But not an easy job. People tend to prefer big megalopolis instead (more offer, multiple possibilities of choice...).
I am FINE TUNING my 2026....SP500 prediction.....it is now.....8000. I figured I should go with a good EVEN number.
I call....TOTAL BS....on the various AI bubble story-lines. These are HUGE companies....some are even approaching more mature levels. They are bringing in HUGE earnings and profits and multiples are just fine. There is NOTHING in this current tech environment remotely similar to the Dot-Com crash. This is fear being generated by.....media driven...fear itself. In other words...STUPIDITY. I agree strongly with much of the REALISTIC content that I see that says this AI revolution will last at least another 8-10 years. AND....there is a very strong possibility that this BUSINESS and CULTURAL REVOLUTION will last another 20 years. Back in the day...we had the Dot-Com crash happen in the late 1990's. We than had a Bear market in 2000/2001. Many articles you see will call these two events the same event. I dont buy that either...I see them as two distinct events. The Dot-Com crash was simply due to fantasy speculative companies and was EUPHORIA driven. The dot-Com stocks being driven up were basically concept companies with NO earnings, and NO profits and NO fundamentals. Much of this happened in the late 1990's. The 2000/2001....BEAR MARKET....was RECESSION driven....pure and simple. 'I don't see a bubble': Why Wall Street thinks the stock market can keep climbing even as AI anxiety grows https://finance.yahoo.com/news/i-do...mbing-even-as-ai-anxiety-grows-140025569.html What is fascinating is that MOST of the people writing these sorts of doom & gloom articles were not even adults back than....were NOT investors....and have NO actual memory of that time in the context of business. AND....much of this sort of content is just SLOPPY and LAZY content masquerading as journalism. So.....NO....I have ZERO AI anxiety. Of course...... I am a long term investor with a life long horizan. So I dont look at this sort of event the same way the day to day media does.
It has been a long and crazy year in the markets this year. In the end we are going to end very nicely. ONLY....three market days left in the year. AND.....not a great open today. It appears that we will now have three years in a row with NO Santa rally.
Our greatest danger as an investor.....OUR OWN BRAIN. We’re wired to react to bad news — and that messes with our investments. Can AI help? No news is good news for stock investors https://www.marketwatch.com/story/w...ur-investments-can-ai-help-f779b8ad?st=AJ681k "Negativity bias — that practically universal human tendency to give more weight to negative developments — is almost certainly costing you. Many researchers believe this trait is hardwired into our brains for evolutionary reasons. That animal outside your cave could be harmless — or a predator; the survival of the species depends on assuming the worst and taking precautions."
Speaking about TOXIC human behavior and our brains. And....NO....in spite of the headline this is not a political article. Hating the rich may feel good — and win elections — but it’s self-destructive https://nypost.com/2025/12/27/opini...d-and-win-elections-but-its-self-destructive/
Gold and silver are BOOMING. I agree that this is the REAL bubble of the moment. Whose Bubble Is It Anyway? https://www.bespokepremium.com/interactive/posts/think-big-blog/whose-bubble-is-it-anyway "Ironically, many bears that call the AI trade a speculative bubble also recommend increasing exposure to gold and other precious metals, but that kind of rationale gets more difficult now that the metals trade has gone even more parabolic than stocks!"
I like this and tend to agree.....BUT....we also know that the common belief is often wrong when it comes to the markets. AND....we also know that these so called "experts" have a horrible record for accuracy. Every Wall Street Analyst Now Predicts a Stock Rally in 2026 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bulls-only-every-wall-street-114500932.html
Another big boost to come in 2026....but whether it translates to market returns is NOT a given. US economy to ride tax cut tailwind but faces risks https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-economy-ride-tax-cut-110205387.html
YES......join us as an investor in 2026. Or.....renew your focus on investing. YOU.....are the only one in control of your future. MAKE IT HAPPEN. Find inspiration for achieving your financial resolutions and money goals in 2026 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inspiration-achieving-financial-resolutions-money-151951561.html
Although the markets are NOT making it happen today. Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq slide as Nvidia, Tesla fall to start 2025's final week https://finance.yahoo.com/news/live...fall-to-start-2025s-final-week-110404612.html
TECH.....is being disrespected again today. Many of the big cap tech monsters are stuck in somewhat of a trading range since August. I have no idea why....other than the exhausting and overwhelmingly negative media. The fundamentals have been outstanding. They have also been....outstandingly.....ignored and disrespected. We will see if we can fight through the negative open today. Of course there is NO real news today. It is New Years week and a very shallow market.
Here is my NOMINATION for asset of the year. Silver tops $80 for first time, then stages dramatic reversal overnight https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/29/sil...-then-stages-dramatic-reversal-overnight.html "Key Points Silver slid 7% on Monday, after topping $80 for the first time ever in overnight trading. The precious metal was still higher by more than 155% year to date. It started 2025 trading above just $20 per ounce. That has helped the precious metal outperform even gold this year."
I start the day with two stocks green....AAPL and MSFT. I am expecting to get my "lawsuit" money this week. So I am somewhat...."perversely"....hoping for a bad market week to get that money invested at good prices. If I am lucky it will come tomorrow and I will drive to the HUGE Schwab complex....at the Domain area of Austin....and get that money quickly into one of my accounts.
