1. Investors were Pouring into Bonds Pre-Election 2020 now Back to Record Stock Inflows….$56B Last Week
Marketwatch-Stock market investors poured a record amount of money into U.S. equity mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in the past week as the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped another milestone and the S&P 500 index also touched a record. BofA Global Research on Friday said U.S. equity inflows hit a weekly record of $56.76 billion in the week ending March 17, up sharply from $16.83 billion a week earlier. The Dow DJIA, 0.14% on March 17 closed above the 33,000 for the first time, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.49% also finished at an all-time high.
Investors poured record $56.8 billion into stock-market funds as stimulus checks arrived-By William Watts
1. Barclays Long Treasury Index Biggest Drawdown in 40 Years
Rick Rieder-Blackrock -Global FIxed Income CIO
We’re in the midst of witnessing #BondMarketHistory, as the peak to trough drawdown for the Barclays Long Treasury Index now exceeds -20% (not including today’s move), its worst #drawdown going back 40 years and meeting what many consider to be a bear #market!
2. Inflation-Bonds, REITS and Stock Far Better Hedges Against Inflation than Gold
Charlie Bilello–This is what that same chart looks like if we include Investment Grade Corporate Bonds, REITs, and Stocks…
Note: Investment Grade Bonds = ICE BofA US Corporate Total Return Index, REITs = FTSE Nareit All REITs Index (Total Return), S&P 500 Index = S&P 500 Total Return Index.
As it turns out, Bonds, REITs, and Stocks have all been far superior hedges against inflation than Gold. And they’ve all done so with lower volatility than Gold.
What’s the Best Hedge Against Inflation?BY CHARLIE BILELLO
3. Long-Term Bonds 10% Drawdown for 11th Time Since 1994….All Recovered in this Bond Bull Market
For the 11th time since 1994, long-term bonds are in a 10% drawdown.by Michael Batnick
The most interesting thing about this chart is that an all-time high followed all of them. And just eyeballing it, it looks like it didn’t take too long for investors to get their money back.
Bond investors got paid back quickly when interest rates rose because rates were relatively high. At higher levels of income, you’re going to make your money back faster. The other reason investors were quickly made whole is that rising rates were just a temporary climb in a long downward trend.
9. Lordstown Motors faces SEC questions over shortseller report
By Reuters Staff-SEOUL (Reuters) – Lordstown Motors Corp on Wednesday said it received a request for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a report by shortseller Hindenburg Research, and the company is cooperating with the SEC inquiry.
The Ohio-based electric pickup-truck startup said on an earnings conference call that its board of directors has formed a special committee to review the matter.
Shares of Lordstown Motors were down 5% in extended trade.
On March 12, Hindenburg Research revealed that it had taken a short position in the electric truckmaker, accusing the company of misleading the public with “fake” orders and claiming that its upcoming truck is three to four years away from production.
The company, which in 2019 acquired a shuttered General Motors Co’s plant in Ohio, reiterated on Wednesday that it remained on track to begin building its Endurance electric pickup truck in September as planned.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia Osterman
10. Warren Buffett’s “2 List” Strategy for Focused Attention
James Clear
One of my favorite methods for focusing your attention on what matters and eliminating what doesn’t comes from the famous investor Warren Buffett.
Buffett uses a simple 3-step productivity strategy to help his employees determine their priorities and actions. You may find this method useful for making decisions and getting yourself to commit to doing one thing right away. Here’s how it works…
One day, Buffett asked his personal pilot to go through the 3-step exercise.
STEP 1: Buffett started by asking the pilot, named Mike Flint, to write down his top 25 career goals. So, Flint took some time and wrote them down. (Note: You could also complete this exercise with goals for a shorter timeline. For example, write down the top 25 things you want to accomplish this week.)
STEP 2: Then, Buffett asked Flint to review his list and circle his top 5 goals. Again, Flint took some time, made his way through the list, and eventually decided on his 5 most important goals.
STEP 3: At this point, Flint had two lists. The 5 items he had circled were List A, and the 20 items he had not circled were List B.
Flint confirmed that he would start working on his top 5 goals right away. And that’s when Buffett asked him about the second list, “And what about the ones you didn’t circle?”
Flint replied, “Well, the top 5 are my primary focus, but the other 20 come in a close second. They are still important so I’ll work on those intermittently as I see fit. They are not as urgent, but I still plan to give them a dedicated effort.”
To which Buffett replied, “No. You’ve got it wrong, Mike. Everything you didn’t circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.”
I love Buffett’s method because it forces you to make hard decisions and eliminate things that might be good uses of time, but aren’t great uses of time. So often the tasks that derail our focus are ones that we can easily rationalize spending time on.
This is just one way to narrow your focus and eliminate distractions. I’ve covered many other methods before like The Ivy Lee Method and The Eisenhower Box. That said, no matter what method you use and no matter how committed you are, at some point your concentration and focus begin to fade. How can you increase your attention span and remain focused?
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