Topley’s Top Ten – April 29, 2019

1.Muni’s Have Record 4 Months of Inflows.

Boom, Another Billion’: Muni Funds Land a Year’s Worth of Cash in Four Months

By Danielle Moran

Funds have already seen $30 billion inflow, analyst says

Bid to drive down tax bills pushes munis to pricey levels

It’s only four months into 2019, and already mutual funds that invest in state and local-government debt have raked in more cash than they usually do in a year.

Investors added $1.1 billion to such funds in the week ended April 17, the fifteenth straight weekly influx, the Investment Company Institute reported Wednesday. That bumped the total to about $30 billion since January, more than they’ve drawn during any full year since 2012, according to an analysis of the data by CreditSights.

source

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Topley’s Top Ten – April 25, 2019

1.U.S. Dollar Big Move Up in April….U.S. Rates Still the Highest in World.

Equities

The stock rally paused on Wednesday, pressured by the rising US dollar. Outside of the trade-related uncertainties, the dollar now poses the highest risk to equities. A firmer dollar tends to make US products more expensive for customers abroad and depreciates the value of foreign earnings for US companies. Imported products in the US become cheaper, making it harder for domestic firms to compete.

Weak economic data out of Germany (see the Eurozone section) and a more dovish Bank of Canada (Canada section) boosted the dollar on Wednesday. Rate differentials with other economies will provide tailwinds for the dollar over the long run.

Source: Morgan Stanley Research

The Daily Shot
https://blogs.wsj.com/dailyshot/2019/04/25/the-daily-shot-a-stronger-dollar-could-hinder-the-market-rally/

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Topley’s Top Ten – April 24, 2019

1.S&P Hits New All-Time Highs.

Stocks Are Hitting New Highs Because Earnings Have Been a Pleasant Surprise

Talk of an earnings recession is so last-week. With numbers in for just over 20% of S&P 500 members, the latest growth prediction stands at negative 3.3%. That’s as good as a gain, and it pushed market indexes to new highs on Tuesday.

Two things we knew going into reporting season were that the earnings growth consensus stood at negative 4.3%, and that companies would surely surprise to the upside. They almost always do. The only question was whether it would be a big surprise or a small one.

It’s a big one so far. According to FactSet, earnings have come in 6.3% ahead of expectations. The five-year average is 4.8%. At this rate, better-than-expected results might be enough to pull earnings just above break even versus a year ago, averting an earnings recession.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/stock-market-new-highs-earnings-51556051344?mod=hp_LEAD_1

www.stockcharts.com

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Topley’s Top Ten – April 22, 2019

1.1999-First Day Return of 476 IPOs Averaged 71%.

Barrons

So far, the 2019 crop of gig-economy IPOs aren’t performing like the dot.com era, when investors just “had” to own internet stocks. IPO research from Jay Ritter shows the first-day return of 476 IPOs in 1999 averaged a whopping 71%. What’s more, the Nasdaq Composite rose another 100% between the middle of 1999 and the market’s peak in March 2000. Dot.com stocks kept working even after internet companies sold shares to the public.

Pinterest Stock Is Hot After Its IPO. Why You Should Keep Your Cool.Al Root

https://www.barrons.com/articles/pinterest-ipo-soars-investors-risk-getting-burned-51555601498?mod=past_editions

Nasdaq 100% Rise in One Year…Aug. 1999-March 2000

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Topley’s Top Ten – April 19, 2019

1. No Shortage of Debt Issuance….Record Start to 2019.

Bond sales are booming in 2019, running at a record pace globally for the year so far, as a pivot in monetary policy among the world’s central banks prompts a fresh binge in corporate borrowing – Global corporate bond issuance has reached almost $747bn for the year to Monday, according to FT, edging ahead of the previous record of $734bn issued over the same time period in 2017, which ended up being the biggest year on record for new debt sales.

From Dave Lutz at Jones

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