Quote (and Chart) of the Day: Eurozone employment setup speaks positively about economic prospects...

More on the positive Eurozone setup, courtesy of Bespoke Investment Group:

Quote of the Day: Markets are Never Easy!

I absolutely know that folks are paying unusual attention to their portfolio balances these days. It feels good when stuff's going up! If you can relate, be careful with that. Studies show that individual investors who watch their stuff daily underform those who don't. I.e., market fluctuations tend to spark emotion, and emotion-inspired investment decisions can be killers.

Stat of the Day: Still Like Europe's Stocks

Bloomberg's graph and commentary below (citing the 6x more inflows to European equity funds vs the U.S. this year, and the yet lowest relative valuation in 5 years) speaks to why -- as we've discussed/illustrated herein (here's a recent example) -- we continue to favor European equities:

This Week's Message: A Few Tidbits From Our Diary

Our job here at PWA is a fascinating one. World markets are an ever-changing menagerie of the decisions humans make. Over time, patterns develop -- inspiring strategies aimed at exploiting them -- only in so many instances to see those patterns disintegrate and make fools out of "strategists" bold (and foolish) enough to brandish their opinions to the financial media.

Quote of the Day: Policymakers getting in the way of an indicator...

I was recently asked about the disconnect between the economic signaling of the bond market and that of the stock market. That is, interest rates remaining so low (bond prices so high) suggests that the bond market is signaling anything but robust economic growth going forward -- while stocks at record highs may be interpreted as a signal of blue skies to come. The questioner added that in his view "those bond guys are smart" and wondered if perhaps they have it right when all is said and done.

Stat of the Day: How Trump's start stacks up...

It's a popular notion in some circles that this year's positive stock market start has a lot to do with our new president. Well, we gotta be careful with that, for, as I pointed out in a recent post, if Trump had taken office in January 2008 he'd be unfairly catching the blame for the worst bear market/recession since the Great Depression.

This Week's Message: One area that warrants caution...

Here's an unlabeled 64-year graph that I'd like you to take a look at:   

click any insert to enlarge