Yeah....you are kicking it today. AND....wow....you are going to have some extra money after this year with those graduates. CONGRATULATIONS to your father.
I had a medium....small gain today. A single...but important stock down....NVDA. I also lost out to the SP500 today by0.32%. First week of three year in the can.
Now the week that was. I ended the week with my entire portfolio at a year to date of........+0.73%. I am heading toward that first illusive number on the other side of the decimal point....."1". Last week I was at......nothing......it is the first week of the new year so nothing to compare. I missed the whole day again today. I have been running around a lot lately.
I guess this is what I missed today: S&P 500 ends Friday with another record close, scores a winning week https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/08/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
For any that are at the start of their investing journey. Here is a very nice little article on long term investing. The MOST important step in the process.....taking that first step and doing it. Much of what you will see in this article is reflected over and over in this thread. YES.....it is that simple......JUST DO IT. 10 Tips for Successful Long-Term Investing A guide to smart investing strategies that actually work https://www.investopedia.com/articles/00/082100.asp Topics include: 1. Adopt a Long-Term Perspective 2. Don't Chase a Hot Tip 3. Don't Sweat the Small Stuff 4. Look Beyond the Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio 5. Resist the Lure of Penny Stocks 6. Pick a Strategy and Stick With It 7. Focus on the Future 8. Sell the Losers and Let the Winners Ride 9. Be Open-Minded 10. Keep Taxes in Mind, But Don't Obsess ALSO included here: What Is Long-Term Investing? What Is the Safest Investment With the Highest Return? What Are the Drawbacks of Long-Term Investing? The Bottom Line
Ouch! That game didn't last too long, at least from a competitive standpoint. I didn't have a "dog" in the hunt with either team but have enjoyed some of the games throughout the playoff.
Well, 2025 is in the rearview mirror as we sail further and further away into the wild blue yonder. I haven't been able to follow along much lately, which is not too bad of a thing considering much of the noise. Of course, I did a quick cruise through the financial topics to catch up and realized it was once again a waste of time. I really don't know how people can consume so much of that or even news in general now days. Some of it is like those old tabloid magazines that used to be positioned near the grocery check-out lines back in the day. I am probably showing my age with that sentence, but that is what it reminds me of. Just complete nonsense. Anyway, all of my end of the year activities and reviews are complete. Now it is just time to navigate 2026. Not much to do. Just keep up with contributions and sail on. The next thing up for a lot of us will be tax season. Yes, I loathe that time period. Not so much the task of doing it, but the fact that our tax dollars are usually wasted in some fashion.
Yeah....that game was exactly what I was afraid of. That Indiana team is very special. It was a good College Football Playoff for me......initially. I had Texas Tech...one of my kids school....Oregon...one of my kids school and....Texas A&M...one of my granddaughter's school.....ALL...in the playoff. Although in the end even though I had a..... three in twelve.... shot at a good outcome....no luck.
Believe it or not earnings season is once again upon us. Next week the big banks start reporting and then we start rolling more and more as the weeks progress. Seems we barely get finished before the next reporting period starts.
Yeah I was thinking about earnings a few days ago while watching TV. I than blocked it out of my mind. BUT....they are relentless.
Obviously....an irrelevant news item will weigh on the markets today. This has NOTHING to really do with any investment. It is just the impact of a dramatic....well not really.....news item. It is not like the FED is somehow successfully driving stocks or the economy anyway. With their erratic action and lack of action over the past year......the FED has basically made themselves meaningless. I dont care about Powell or the FED at this point.....but I will be glad to see him gone in about three months. He has NOT been a friend of the markets or the economy over the past year and was in FACT a big driver of inflation over the past three years. Dow falls 300 points as DOJ Powell probe raises fear Trump trying to take control of the Fed https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/11/stock-market-today-live-updates.html
DUH......as we have seen...three FED cuts had ZERO impact.....I would say due to "sentiment". On Sentiment and Bond Spreads Friendly reminder: Sentiment affects bond markets, too. https://www.fisherinvestments.com/en-us/insights/market-commentary/on-sentiment-and-bond-spreads
Lots to think about in this little article. If you include all the gamblers buying and trading financial products that are simply GAMBLING.....the number of retail investors in the markets has and will continue to explode. Of course NONE of thiese people are actually....."investors". A sad cultural event occurring in the markets......which will have HUGE lasting impact on.....actual....investors and investing....over the long term. Dopamine Markets: 2025 Annual Letter Investing is entertainment, traders are celebrities, BREAKING news comes with live odds, everyone has inside information, the American dream is to get rich quick. https://www.dopaminemarkets.com/p/dopamine-markets-2025-annual-letter "The smartphone has put a casino in every pocket, and people can’t help but spin the wheel. "Over the last decade, retail participation in financial markets has grown from a trivial amount to over a hundred million monthly active traders2. Unlike the speculative mania of the 1920s or the dot com bubble of the 1990s, this increase in retail participation represents a structural change that is likely to persist across market cycles."" MY COMMENT What I hate and fear....is that the agencies that govern and regulate markets have allowed this GAMBLING to infect the actual markets. NONE of this garbage should be all0wed to me marketed or sold as...."trading" or "investing". BUT....money talks and it is way too late to go back.
Here is a bit of truth about the SP500 and.....turnover. A sure CONSTANT in the market and the big averages. There's a lot of turnover in the S&P 500 https://www.tker.co/p/sp500-constituent-turnover "“On average, 20% of S&P 500 constituents turn over every five years,” Goldman Sachs’ Ben Snider wrote in his Jan. 6 research note."
AND YES......the constant and relentless emphasis on economic data....with nearly weekly releases now.....is simply a big JOKE. The quality and reliability of the data is so distorted and inaccurate....it is WORTHLESS. The main function it now serves is to simply jerk the markets around with constant FEAR and DRAMA.....week after week. Combing this with the FED and the markets are NEVER allowed to have any peace. The next crisis is always only a week away. ECONOMIC DATA QUANTITY IF NOT INCREASING CLARITY https://assets.realclear.com/files/2026/01/2829_preview_36.pdf
As you can see I am IGNORING the ridiculous story that is impacting the markets today. With POWELL gone in three months....this story is simply a joke on the markets for a few days. Whatever happens to or with him will be over..... way before any end to this story is known......in 2-3 years. So I will simply post what I find that is ACTUALLY relevant to investors......and than....go do something more productive with my time this morning.
A bit of good news for PLTR. Netflix initiated, Palantir upgraded: Wall Street's top analyst calls https://finance.yahoo.com/news/netflix-initiated-palantir-upgraded-wall-144909530.html
GOLD and SILVER are on fire today. A simple reaction to the Powell drama. The way the value of my gold and silver is ballooning....my off site depository....is going to need a bigger safe. Gold smashes new record of $4,600 as Powell probe and global flashpoints ignite safe-haven rush https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/12/gold-record-haven-powell-venezuela-iran.html
OK....that is about it for me. There is basically NOTHING of any interest to the ACTUAL markets and ACTUAL investors today....as usual lately. Before I sign off I will mention that I am actually doing much better than expected today. I have six of seven stocks GREEN.....COST, PLTR, MSFT, AMZN, AAPL, and NVDA. BUT....some of them are bouncing back and forth between slightly red and green. If we are lucky....this is an indication that the markets are NOT going to care about the POWELL drama for long.
