24 Quick Thoughts On The Markets And Economy

The economy is doing pretty wellearnings growth is great, and the stock market just set new all-time highs.

In recent weeks and months, much of the major news we’ve gotten has been consistent with ongoing market narratives, which we’ve covered in this year’s free and paid newsletters.

But I know we’re all busy, and most of us aren’t able to read through every newsletter.

So for your convenience, I’ll do a speedrun through some of the data and insights shared in some of these newsletters that you might find helpful today.

  • History continues to confirm that the stock market can trend higher even as the market’s leaders struggle.
  • Many of the popular arguments for why this year’s stock market rebound "doesn’t make sense" are getting the story wrong.
  • Most of the time, the stock market has bigger concerns than the next quarter-point move by the Fed.
  • Some people are worried about earnings growth cooling. There’s evidence that the market has been pricing in this concern for a year.
  • Energy costs are nothing compared to labor costs for most big, publicly traded companies.
  • For stocks, the direction of interest rates isn’t as important as the rate of change.
  • Things that make obvious economic sense aren’t always consistent with what happens in the stock market.
  • ‘Investing in the stock market at all-time highs has produced slightly better returns than investing during other periods.
  • Investing in non-U.S. stock markets doesn’t always reduce your exposure to the U.S. economy.
  • All but two of the world’s major stock markets are more concentrated than the U.S. 
  • The S&P 500’s index inclusion requirements are pretty good. But they also have some big issues. Maybe it’s time for a change, which wouldn’t be unprecedented.
  • falling saving rate doesn’t mean households are financially stretched. In fact, it may reflect increasing financial strength.
  • Consumers have become less sensitive to inflation.
  • Many of the most successful companies in history have pivoted to businesses their initial investors would have never anticipated.
  • Some advisors recommend investors bury their heads in the sand to avoid making mistakes. I think that’s bad advice and will make you more prone to making mistakes.
  • Stocks have been a good hedge against inflation.
  • Even though it has increasingly become a "stock picker’s market," there’s not much evidence that more stock pickers are beating the market.
  • Anything in the news that matters for investors can be tied to line items on a business’s income statement.
  • We spend a lot of time worrying about things that won’t happen and not enough time worrying about things that will.
  • Wall Street’s first 2027 stock market forecast is out.
  • No matter how good things get, most people will never be satisfied with what they have, and that’s bullish.
  • Profit margins are at record highs, and they’re trending higher for most sectors.
  • For investors, many macro debates are resolved every three months.
  • I can make the argument that expecting a 10% stock market decline isn’t actually bearish.

There’s more from where that came from. If you have questions about the stock market, chances are you’ll find answers in TKer’s archives. Use the search🔎 function in the upper right corner of TKer.co and type in some keywords.

Benzinga Disclaimer: This article is from an unpaid external contributor. It does not represent Benzinga’s reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.