Posted by lplresearch
We shared the following chart in our latest Weekly Market Commentary, “The Bull Is 9, Can It Make 10?”, which shows that this is the second largest and second longest bull market ever—with only the ‘90s bull standing in the way of the record books.
https://lplresearch.com/2018/03/07/where-does-this-bull-market-rank/
January sales of semiconductors topped records marking a year and a half of consecutive monthly gains, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association in a statement late Monday. January chip sales rose 22.7% to a record $37.6 billion, SIA said. Year-over-year sales in the Americas saw the largest rise with a gain of 40.6%, followed by Europe with a 19.9% rise, “Asia Pacific/All Other” seeing a 18.6% rise, China gaining 18.3%, and Japan rising 15.1%. “After notching its highest-ever annual sales in 2017, the global semiconductor industry is off to a strong and promising start to 2018, posting its highest-ever January sales and 18th consecutive month of year-to-year sales increases,” said John Neuffer, SIA president and chief executive, in a statement. Over the past 18 months, the PHLX Semiconductor Index SOX, +0.89%has grown 71%, compared with a 24% gain by the S&P 500 index SPX, +1.10% and a 39% gain on the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +1.00%
Warren Buffett offers his ‘strongest argument’ against a practice investors are doing in record numbers
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett has argued against borrowing money to invest in stocks.
Warren Buffett doesn’t recommend going into debt to buy stocks.
But that’s exactly what investors are doing in record numbers.
Margin-debt balances — loans individual investors take from their brokers to beef up their portfolios and maximize returns — rose to a record $665.72 billion in January, according to datafrom the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
http://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-on-margin-debt-for-stocks-investing-2018-2
From Nasdaq Dorsey Wright.
A stream of rosy profit reports has helped soothe the nerves of investors rattled by this month’s stock market plunge. U.S. companies are seeing the biggest growth spurt in quarterly earnings in six years, and the pace is set to accelerate.
The question now is whether that momentum will fuel further stock gains.
