Perspectives

For a generation of investors, inflation is something read about in history books but never experienced. This is about to change. The combination of relaxed

As of last Friday, the Standard & Poors Index, the basis for index funds under the same banner, had recorded a year-to-date appreciation of 11.29

Students of finance become acquainted with what is taught to be the “risk-free rate.” This is the return that can be obtained by investing in securities of the United States Treasury. Usually, the five-or ten-year treasury yield is counted as the benchmark rate, with potential returns taken as some increment of this rate.

Today, we are witnessing another transition. Through the internet, hundreds of thousands of unversed speculators are being harnessed to focus on a few stocks.

The financial press is awash in predictions as to how the stock market will perform under a Biden presidency. Implied in these predictions is a belief that who occupies the Oval Office will impact the stock market. The record of this is more one of coincidence than causality.

This year will be best recalled as one where the economy went down, and the stock market went up. After suffering a 30 percent contraction in March and April, the GDP came back forcefully in the summer, only to fade out in the closing months of the year.