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Did the Santa Rally Actually Fail?

Mid-week market update: The S&P 500 ended the seasonally positive Santa Claus rally window down -0.1% this year. According to Wall Street lore, this foreshadows a weak year for stock prices.     But did investors really miss Santa Claus this year? The Dow, the equal-weighted S&P 500, the NYSE Composite were all positive during the...

What Santa Rally?

Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.   The Trend...

Opportunities and Challenges of 2026

The accompanying chart from Jeffrey Hirsch of Almanac Trader shows the expected seasonal price pattern for the S&P 500. As with any seasonality analysis, direction is more important than the magnitude of the move. If history is any guide, expect a volatile year until October, followed by a rally into year-end.   I agree with...

How the Investing Game is Changing

Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.   The Trend...

The Market Cycle Puzzle

Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.   The Trend...

Celebrate the Season of Saturnalia

Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.   The Trend...

High Conviction Idea: My Most Reliable Timing Models

It’s that time of year again to offer my readers the highest conviction idea for the coming year. Last year, my bullish call on gold worked out extremely well (see 2025 High Conviction Idea: Gold). Gold prices soared in all currencies and was one of the best-performing asset classes for the year.     This...

A Less Hawkish Than Expected Rate Cut

Mid-week market update: Coming into the December FOMC decision, I was worried that the market might react negatively on the prospect of a hawkish rate cut. Ahead of the meeting, the Committee was highly divided and the potential for a divided decision was extremely high.     As it turns out, the level of hawkishness had...

A Healing Bull

Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.   The Trend...

The Fed’s Upcoming Productivity Bet

In 1995, Fed Chair Alan Greenspan made an unconventional bet that the U.S. was undergoing an era of faster productivity growth based on the adoption of technology. The decision enabled a significant shift in monetary policy that resulted in faster non-inflationary growth and increased prosperity. The adoption of easier monetary policy also fueled the Dot-Com...