šŸ¦‰ This Week in the Markets

the financial news you need

Welcome to your weekly market wrap-up.

The weekend is almost here, so grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, and catch up on the financial markets.

I’ve been doing the reading and scrolling, to bring you the most relevant updates.

end of week markets update

1) Equity markets continue to power higher, with the S&P500 making new all-time highs this week. Again šŸ’ø 

Don’t forget: ā€œThe whole way up ppl have been trying to tell you the world is endingā€

2) Why is the stock market up so much?

We keep hearing it all depends on the Fed, interest rates, and inflation. But don’t forget it's mostly about companies growing their earnings—no matter what the macro environment.

Breaking down the S&P 500's 20% year-to-date price return:

  • 10.3% comes from earnings growth

  • 9.6% is due to multiple expansion

3) Are the markets getting ahead of themselves? This is what we are all asking. 

You might think that future returns will surely be lower—or negative—after such a big move up.

Since 1985, under similar circumstances the market has always been higher a year later🤘

When the S&P 500 has gone up 25% or more in the 12 months before a first rate cut from the Federal Reserve, the market has gone up 100% of the time in the following year. On average, it’s gained about 19%.

Bespoke Investment Group

This is not a guarantee of anything of course… But I like those odds.

4) The Chinese government finally pushes the BIG stimulus button šŸ§§

It’s been a bad three years for the Chinese economy.

And a very shitty three years for Chinese equites: With the MSCI China equity index down three years in a row (2021: -21.64%, 2022: -21.8% 2023: -11.04%).

Yet the government has held off from rolling out any serious stimulus…

UNTIL THIS WEEKšŸ’„ 

Is this finally a turning point for China’s stock marketā“ļø I don’t trust communist governments but who knows…

5) People are buying now and asking questions later: the CSI300, which tracks the top 300 stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, jumped 11% this week. And the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index is up almost 10% as well.

Watch: Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper said on Thursday he’s buying EVERYTHING China - link here.

charts

Will the US stock market have the same returns this century as the last one? šŸ¤ž 1,000x!

Gold hits new highs this week, up almost 30% YTD— tracking for its best year in decades šŸš€

Gold has been a snooze-fest as an investment for a decade.

What changed: Central banks in emerging markets are buying like crazy - because it can’t be sanctioned šŸ˜‰

And it seems like retail investors have begun to wake up to what’s going on:

And finally, some parting wisdom:

ā€œBull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoriaā€.

Sir John Templeton

Don’t to forget to share the young investor with your friends…

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