{"id":51354,"date":"2020-08-03T10:28:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T14:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=51354"},"modified":"2020-08-03T10:28:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-03T14:28:11","slug":"doom-gloom-and-opportunities-lots-and-lots-of-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/?p=51354","title":{"rendered":"Doom, gloom and … opportunities. Lots and lots of them."},"content":{"rendered":"

This headline on Friday’s New York Times<\/em> freaked investors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The article contained these freak words:<\/p>\n

The coronavirus pandemic\u2019s toll on the nation\u2019s economy became emphatically clearer Thursday as the government detailed the most devastating three-month collapse on record, which wiped away nearly five years of growth.<\/p>\n

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced, fell 9.5 percent in the second quarter of the year as consumers cut back spending, businesses pared investments and global trade dried up,\u00a0the Commerce Department said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The drop \u2014 the equivalent of a 32.9 percent annual rate of decline<\/strong> \u2014 would have been even more severe without trillions of dollars in government aid to households and businesses.<\/p>\n

But there is mounting evidence that the attempt to freeze the economy and defeat the virus has not produced the rapid rebound that many envisioned. A surge in coronavirus cases and deaths across the country has led to a renewed\u00a0pullback in economic activity<\/a>, reflecting consumer unease and renewed shutdowns. And much of the government support is on the verge of running out, with Washington at an impasse over next steps.<\/p>\n

For the full Casselman NYTimes article, click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

One investor highlighted a Business Insider<\/em> article last week in which the reporter talked about “Investing is a Mental Game.” He wrote:<\/p>\n

Every day I wake up with extra stress I don\u2019t need. Wearing masks outside of the home became law where I live here in Melbourne last night. The situation outside of my front door is not getting better. We\u2019re running out of band-aids, but at least we see the crisis for what it is: a problem that needs camaraderie and a unified approach to a solution.<\/p>\n

Thinking about investments is the last thing I need right now and you are probably in a similar situation. Despite all the hype about Tesla and stocks going to the moon, it\u2019s false hope.<\/p>\n

When there is too much hype, run.<\/mark><\/p>\n

Take a life raft and watch the storms from a distance. Sitting in cash is the cure to investment stress.<\/p>\n

His timing couldn’t have been worse. He sold right before Friday’s huge boom in tech stocks, in which Apple rose 10%.<\/p>\n

In America, my friend, who’s a Trumpie, wrote his dire concerns over the weekend:<\/p>\n

Biden will be elected.<\/p>\n

He will have a massive tax plan to put in play Jan 21. Much of the tax plan will be retroactive to Jan 1.<\/p>\n

Income tax rates will go up. Capital gains taxes will probably go away and gains are ordinary income.\u00a01031 exchanges are gone.<\/p>\n

Minimum four years of those alterations.<\/p>\n

My friend shouldn’t be freaking out over Biden (should he win).<\/p>\n

The historical record shows that since 1900 the stock market has fared far better<\/strong> under Democratic presidents, with a 6.7 percent annualized return for the Dow Jones industrial average compared with just 3.5 percent under Republicans. (The results are similar when measured from Election Day to Election Day.) Data provided by Bespoke Investment Group shows that these are the best annualized returns under individual presidents:<\/p>\n