Consensus: The market is going up because it’s going up.
More “logically,” there’s no place else to put your money. Not bonds. Not treasurys. Maybe Italy? Now about to get its 64th government since the end of World War II — 70 years ago. Or you can buy Brazilian stocks… Wait there, didn’t they just impeach their president? And now they are about to impeach her replacement.
Or, you can send money to India, whose prime minister, Narendra Modi, just did one of the dumbest currency decisions ever. He declared 85% of India’s currency invalid. Now no one can go shopping or get paid — unless they have the new replacement notes. But, sadly, there aren’t enough of them to go around. And India’s printing presses can’t print them fast enough. Maybe he should have checked before he outlawed India’s most popular bills? If it weren’t so sad, it would be funny.
The U.S. is down to 4.6% unemployment — basically full employment. There are thousands of available jobs — but no one to fill them. Tell your children to study maths and grow up to be programmers.
Dah!
Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) and Sunoco Logistics (SXL) criticized the government’s decision not to issue an easement for their Dakota Access Pipeline. The companies called it a “purely political action.”
Barron’s is the leading investment newspaper. It’s part of the Wall Street Journal. So it has to be good at picking stocks.
Here’s how its ten stock picks did in 2015:
And here’s how they did in 2016 (so far):
And now — drum roll — for Barron’s picks for 2017:
There you have them. Of the ten stocks that Barron’s picked for 2017, seven lost ground in 2016 (so far). Personally, I’m not big on catching falling knives.
I do have an argument with Barron’s losers. Why don’t they dump them? In 2015, it lost 55% on Micron Technology (MU) and 39% with Macys. In 2016 it lost 33% on AMC Networks and nearly 20% with CVS Health. Surely, when you get to a 15% loss (let’s say), you dump your losers and put the money into something going up, or at least holding its own.
Barron’s results are not a great testimony to “Buy and Hold” — if ever there was one.
You can read more about Barron’s “logic” for its ten stock tips for 2017. Click here.
Another reason to buy Amazon.
Idea: Give one share of Amazon to each of your grandkids.
Things learned:
+ Don’t leave your device’s password at the factory default. Too easy to hack. Change the password to something easy to remember, like “HarryToldMeToDoThis1234.”
+ Talk to your Internet provider service company’s local technician — you’ll find him in the street. Ask him/her how locals are getting their broadband speed increased. Mine doubled when I did this.
+ Externals hard drives and flash drives are great backups for your working files. Make sure you have multiple devices as backups. Sometimes these gadgets fail. One of mine just did. They cost $60 on Amazon for 256 gb.
Favorite headlines:
+ Craft Beer Gone Wild: Leading Porn Site Releases Its Own Fancy Beer
+ Tennis players net longer lives than other jocks: study reveals
+ Venezuela Currency (the Bolivar) Loses 45% This Month as Hyperinflation Escalates (Another good place to invest?)
Obama Politely Asks Trump to Wait Until Inauguration Before Destroying World
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)-In an Oval Office meeting that White House aides described as “friendly but strained,” President Obama politely asked President-elect Donald Trump to wait until he is officially sworn in to begin destroying the world.
According to the aides, Obama said that, while he understood that Trump was eager to create potentially cataclysmic diplomatic crises around the world, tradition dictated that he wait until he is actually President to do so.
Obama cited the example of George W. Bush, who waited until he took the oath of office before wreaking destruction on a massive scale.
“There’ll be loads of time for you to do stuff like that,” Obama reportedly said.
During the meeting, which lasted nearly an hour, Obama repeatedly asked Trump “if he understood what was being said to him,” the aides reported.
After the meeting, Trump spoke briefly with reporters but cut the session short to “jump on a phone call with Kim Jong-un.”
“He’s a terrific guy, he’s doing just a terrific job over there,” Trump said, of the North Korean leader.
Obama did not take questions from reporters but was later seen sitting at his desk, holding his head in his hands.
Harry Newton, who marvels at how little food we need, and how much better we feel with less of it. Little bits of food several times a day works best.
AMZN, CENT, FB, MSFT SPY, and SQ are soaring today. Thank you God, Donald or whoever.
Harry were you disappointed on election night that when John Podesta was telling all of Hillary’s supporters to “go home and get some sleep and we’ll get those votes counted” all the while Hillary was calling Trump to concede?
Democrats are such a class act…….lol
If You Like Your Plan……. Ray Stevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fawv4vt5ZPI
A lot funnier than Andy Bore-owitz, and true!
Sorry Harry, I have no idea why it made the picture for this video so large.
Right. And Harry told us that the stock market would crash and the economy would go down the toilet if the evil white racist, Donald Trump was elected. Yeh, I’m still waiting for Mr. Newton to apologize.
Harry tell your depressed liberal moron friends that they now need to begin to imagine not only a Trump Presidency but also a Trump as Gov of NY and a Trump as Mayor of NYC…..and all at the same time……lol
With any luck they”ll become even more suicidal…….
Harry, am I missed something? My local technician would say, Sure- upgrade to a higher tier of internet..
Trump certainly cannot make things any worse than Obama has…I worry about how much more destruction Obama can do during his last month and a half in office. How many more pardons? The best thing Obama could do is plan his move to Cuba to join Castro’s little brother or Canada to join Trudeau…they all love each other so much.
What destruction? Can you be a little specific, please?
There are far too many to list here…you could start with the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl case…all the really nasty guys released from Guantanamo back to ISIS and drug dealers from US prisons…playing golf and virtually ignoring our soldiers being beheaded…all his “Executive Orders” to go around Congress… the list goes on and on!
How’s Mayor Mike these days……lol
If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
Syria understands there’s a “line in the sand”…
Obama and Holder should both be facing murder charges with regard to “Fast & Furious”….
Harry could you please tell me where Obama was on the night of the Benghazi attacks?….I would love to know…..
So would the rest of the nation
The Washington Times: reports:
“Under Reagan, adult black unemployment fell by 20 percent, but under Mr. Obama, it has increased by 42 percent.: Black teenage unemployment fell by 16 percent under Reagan, but has risen by 56 percent under Mr. Obama. The increase in unemployment rates has been far worse for blacks under Mr. Obama than for whites and Hispanics. Inflation-adjusted real incomes are slightly higher for Hispanics and whites than they were in 2008, but are lower for blacks. The labor force participation rate has fallen for all groups, but remains far lower for blacks than for whites and Hispanics.”
** I shutter to think what Obama would have done to America if he had the Congress in his last 6 years with a Republican congress that put up no opposition.
i wouldn’t trust any statistics from the washington times.
As if the Wash Post has a scintilla of credibility.
Good point. They sure fed the Fake News of the 2016 Election.
Enough specifics Harry?
Obama and Hillary are going to prison.
I doubt it about Obama, but there are so many ways to get the rest of the nest of vipers.
What does that have to do with picking stocks for 2017?
Actually I don’t believe either one of them will be sentenced to prison until 2018……
Harry……if you think you and your lib commie upper west side idiot friends are “depressed” now, just wait until Trump is in office for a couple of weeks. Shrinks in uptown NYC are going to be working Sunday’s………LOL