What the &$#! Happened Yesterday?

Really rough day for tech stocks yesterday:    click charts to enlarge...

Quote of the Day

The great challenge as a market participant is of essentially the same mental character that has us interpreting the world around us in a manner that fits what we desire, and/or supports our personal biases.

This Week's Message: The Age of the Machine Has NOT Risen -- OR -- The Effects of Little League Games and Piano Recitals

I need to preface the following with the acknowledgement that, as with virtually everything else in life, future market prices are undeniably uncertain. Stocks can fall out of bed at anytime for any reason -- whether they've enjoyed an uptrend lasting 8 years, 8 months, 8 weeks, 8 days or 8 minutes. They can fall from what some construe as great heights, they can fall from any number above zero... 5,000 was considered a great height when the Dow reached that milestone back in November 1995:

This Week's Video: Sectors Sending Mixed Signals

Once playing, click the icon in the lower right corner for full screen. Focus should occur after a few seconds; if not, click the wheel to the left of the YouTube icon to adjust:

While Western Leadership May (or may not) Resist Belt and Road, Western Investors Absolutely Should Not!

From Bloomberg's May 12, 2017 Economic Brief:

China is one of the few countries in the world today with money to spend, and Xi Jinping is ready to write some checks.

Those checks would be written to fund China's "Belt and Road Initiative".

Quote of the Day: Really? Tax reform in the face of such perverse incentives??

All in favor of tax simplification say "aye". AYE!!! All opposed say "nay". ..................

I know that all of you, umm, well....., we do have a client/subscriber or three in the tax-planning business (each of whom I respect and admire [sincerely!])..... so let's say most of you sympathize with my AYE!!

This Week's Message: Are Stocks Dangerously Expensive? -- AND -- Highlights of our in-house study on the financial sector

Here's a look at our tracking of current-year price to earnings ratios for the S&P 500 (spx), major U.S. sectors, and much of the rest of the world -- along with our target allocation percentages:   click charts to enlarge