Weekly Market Bites

end of week markets update

1) Here’s a summary of the markets year-to-date:

2) Keeping track of this Bull Market 🤔 

The current bull market in the S&P 500, that started in 2022, is now somewhere between the halfway mark (or maybe a bit beyond) compared to previous bull markets dating back to 1949.

Black line of dots in chart below:

Of course history doesn’t repeat itself perfectly. But looking at where we stand in the bigger picture still puts things in perspective.

What signs are there we might be in even latter stages?

For those following the market closely, the euphoria has been in stocks like Palantir and Tesla (and yeah crypto we see you too).

That’s a concern because, as Sir John Templeton put it:

Common Wall Street wisdom has it that when people start getting euphoric usually means that the party is about to end.

Are we seeing the usual signs of euphoria and speculation in the latter stages of a bull market?

Or has speculation mixed with technology become the new normal?

3) International stocks are beating US stocks year to date.

Its still early days but so far in 2025 international equities are flying 💸 💸 

That’s why international diversification is also worth it. As much as simply going all-in on the S&P500 seems like the thing to do.

The ACWIX (the entire world stock market ex-US) is 3% ahead of the US. With a whole a lot of country indexes much more ahead than the US so far.

4) Chinese companies are back in favor! 🧧 💴 💰️ 

Late last year, optimism started moving that Beijing was finally easing up on its crackdown against major companies. And in recent months, the signals have only gotten stronger, hinting that China wants its stock market back in the spotlight.

The latest plot twist? Jack Ma is back. The Alibaba founder just made a high-profile reappearance, showing his back in favor.

Not only was he seen attending high-level government meetings, but he was also shaking hands with Xi Jinping:

So you know what else is back in favor? Chinese stocks. Right where short sellers had been having a feast for years.

A basket of the largest Chinese tech companies has now matched the performance of the MAG-7 over the past year.

charts

What sets lower vs. higher net worth families?

Capital allocation.

Lower net worth tier families have more of there assets tied up in their primary residence, vehicles and retirement accounts.

While higher net worth families have more of their assets in stocks and business interests.

Lastly, and i thought this was hilarious, remember we are still in a bull market.

Resist the temptation to do stupid things 😂 

And finally, some parting wisdom