1) As I read the Wall Street Journal and the business section of the New York Times, I have been struck by the volume of articles regarding economic uncertainty... The underlying theme is how the turmoil triggered mainly by the Trump administration's tariff policies are creating uncertainty and resulting in cautious behavior almost everywhere. Here's […]

1) The main reason I've still been saying to "sit tight" amid all the recent market turmoil is that I worry that the Trump administration's tariff plans have put us into uncharted economic waters. Businesses large and small are constantly making critical decisions about investments, sourcing, pricing, and so forth. And right now, most are […]

1) While consumer sentiment is poor, consumer spending – which accounts for nearly 70% of our GDP – remains strong. That's according to a couple measures... The first is the government's retail sales report for March – just take a look at this chart from Creative Planning's Charlie Bilello in a post yesterday on social […]

1) Compared with what we saw last week, the markets have been quieter over the past couple days... And I don't want to cause more stress among my readers by sharing more bearish indicators (believe me, there are plenty). So instead, I'll highlight this New York Times article from last weekend that has some good […]

During times of market turmoil, it's critically important to keep a clear head and a long-term perspective. That's easy to say... But it's hard to do when we're bombarded by a 24/7 news cycle, which tends to reinforce the prevailing narrative in the financial media. And that narrative is generally negative these days. Take a […]

1) As you would no doubt expect by now, the tariff details keep changing... Late on Friday, it appeared that President Donald Trump's administration was exempting a range of Chinese-made electronic products like iPhones from its 145% tariffs. And that could – at least temporarily – benefit companies that manufacture certain electronic devices outside the […]

1) Well, the reality is setting in... Markets gave back some of their huge gains from Wednesday, with the S&P 500 Index falling 3.5% yesterday. Investors are coming to grips with what I wrote in yesterday's e-mail: Just because a huge catastrophe – think a 2008-style financial crisis – is likely off the table doesn't […]

1) In another wild swing, the markets had their best day since 2008 yesterday... The S&P 500 Index ripped higher by 9.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index soared 12.2%. And it all came in the wake of the Trump administration's new change to tariffs. As President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in the […]

Coming back to the stocks that recently popped up on my radar screen... The second-most popular stock among the four I mentioned to my readers last week was luxury furnishings retailer RH (RH) – better known as Restoration Hardware. (The top one was Align Technology (ALGN), which I discussed in yesterday's e-mail.) As a reminder, […]

1) I'll be honest... I haven't been paying that much attention to my personal portfolio for at least a month. I know I have roughly 30% cash, 30% S&P 500 Index funds, 30% blue-chip stocks, and a handful of more speculative small-cap and private investments. I also know that I've taken losses in the 70% […]