Think you need to go ultra-conservative with your investments at retirement?
Think again! A 65-year-old married couple has a 47% chance that at least one spouse will live to age 90. Your portfolio should be prepared to last several decades into retirement. Source: Peter Mallouk
The 'official' Santa Claus Rally begins on December 24
It covers the last 5 trading days of December + the first 2 of January. $SPX was up 77% of the time. The last 2 were negative, but there has never been a third straight down Santa Claus Rally. Source: Subu Trade @SubuTrade
This looks like a very strong trend
Japanese 10-year government bond yield hit 2.07%, the highest since the 1990s. Gold prices hit a record $4,440, rising +68% year-to-date. Finally, silver prices surpassed $66 per ounce for the first time in history, now up +134% year-to-date. When will it end? Source: Global Markets Investor
A new all-time-high for gold
Source: Barchart
The US is innovating at an unprecedented rate 🚀
We talk about global competition, but the data tells a much more lopsided story. Check these numbers: 1. The Profit Gap The US has 62 technology companies netting over $1B in annual profit. China? Only 15. That’s a 4x lead over the world’s second-largest economy. 2. The Global Comparison The US has 21 more elite tech firms than China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Eurozone combined. Read that again. One country is out-scaling entire continents. 3. The Leaderboard Of the world’s 10 largest companies, 8 are US tech firms. Of the world’s 10 most innovative companies, 8 are US-based. "Dominance" is no longer the right word. We are witnessing a level of industrial concentration we’ve never seen before. The US isn’t just participating in the future. It’s architecting it. Is the gap between the US and the rest of the world becoming unbridgeable? Source: The Kobeissi Letter
Risk appetite is through the roof.
Stock market investment is at 20+ year highs. Meanwhile, retail asset allocation to stocks is up to ~70%, near the highest in 20 years, according to the AAII survey. This is in-line with the highs seen during the 2021 meme stock frenzy. To put this into perspective, stock allocations were just ~55% during 2020 and fell to ~40% at the 2008 low. At the same time, average stock exposure among investment managers is up to nearly ~100%, one of the highest readings over the last 20 years. This has risen ~65 percentage points since the April low. Source: The Kobeissi Letter, Bloomberg
In case you missed it...
*JAPAN NOV. CORE CPI RISES 3.0% Y/Y; EST. +3.0% *US NOV. CORE CPI RISES 2.6% Y/Y; EST. +3.0% This is the first time since 1977 that Japan has a higher inflation rate than the US. (Japan includes taxes in its inflation measure. The US does not.) Source: Jim Bianco
Interesting view by HolgerZ on X
"Chancellor Friedrich Merz has now suffered a setback in foreign policy as well. He was unable to push through the Mercosur trade deal – an agreement that matters greatly for Germany’s economy – and the plan to support Ukraine’s debt relies on the issuance of joint EU debt. As a result, Germany is slowly losing one of its last competitive advantages: its superior credit rating. The risk premium on EU bonds relative to German Bunds has narrowed sharply in recent weeks". Source: HolgerZ, Bloomberg
