I knew it couldn’t last forever. From April 24 through May 8, the S&P 500 went 10 straight trading sessions going no lower than 2,379 and no higher than 2,401. That’s an ultra-narrow band of just 22 points. So in two full weeks, the index didn’t fluctuate up or down by so much as 1%. According to Factset Research, this has only happened 10 times in the past four decades. But there are no guarantees in the investment world, and I knew volatility would return. Without a doubt, I knew we’d eventually see one of those crazy days where the… Read More
I knew it couldn’t last forever. From April 24 through May 8, the S&P 500 went 10 straight trading sessions going no lower than 2,379 and no higher than 2,401. That’s an ultra-narrow band of just 22 points. So in two full weeks, the index didn’t fluctuate up or down by so much as 1%. According to Factset Research, this has only happened 10 times in the past four decades. But there are no guarantees in the investment world, and I knew volatility would return. Without a doubt, I knew we’d eventually see one of those crazy days where the Dow Jones Industrial Average swings up or down by a few hundred points. That day was this past Wednesday, May 17. Both the Dow and S&P 500 lost 1.8%, their worst losses since September 2016. The news had every investor checking the financial sites to see how high (or low) our portfolio holdings were trading. But we don’t have to resign ourselves to living with this type of volatility. Stay Out Of “Sensitive” Stocks You’ve probably noticed that on “up” days when most stocks are in the green, some holdings always seem to ride a little bit higher than… Read More