C.J. Lawrence Weekly – Regardless of Outcome, the U.S.-China Trade Dispute May Accelerate the U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance

But the U.S., which has been undergoing its own industrial and manufacturing renaissance, catalyzed by the evolution of low-cost energy production and availability, is poised to gain its fair share of global industrial growth and new opportunities created by “reshoring” initiatives. Low cost en...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly – Individual Investors Sell Stock and Bond Funds, While Institutional Investors Shun Stocks

Outflows from domestic equity mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) accelerated into year-end 2018.  According to data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI), domestic equity funds experienced outflows of $105.5 billion in 2018, $30 billion of which flowed out in the fourth quarter.  ...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly – Economic Fears Feed Market Volatility but Slow Stable Growth and Tame Inflation Could Be Bullish for Stocks in 2019

Positioning portfolios for next year and beyond will be challenging for top down investors and managers. The 2019 and 2020 economic and corporate profit outlooks are murky and investors who remember the sting of the 2008 downtown may choose to remain in safe ports rather than face the risk that the...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly Market Comment – Growth Remains Attractive…Comparisons to the “Nifty Fifty” and Internet Bubble Periods Miss the Mark

Some growth doubters have likened today’s environment to that of the “Nifty Fifty” period in the 1970s, or to the new economy stock mania in the late 1990s prior to the bursting of the internet bubble. But deeper analysis suggests that those comparisons don’t stand up. The original “Nift...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly Market Comment – Supply-Demand Imbalance Bodes Well for Rebound in Housing Related Stocks

The growth in the pace of housing completions, now at a 1.26 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR), suggests that the U.S. housing market remains under-supplied and is only inching its way back to balance. At the same time, millennials are entering the housing market at a rapid pace, h...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly Market Comment – Healthy Corporate Fundamentals and Stalled Bond Yields Keep the CJL Market Monitor in BUY Territory

The Market Monitor’s current reading is “BUY”, with a numerical score of +1, the lowest reading in BUY territory, on a scale of -6 to +6. As the Fed has lifted the Fed Funds target rate, the year-over-year interest rate rate-of-change models have weighed on the Monitor score. But despite ri...
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C.J. Lawrence Weekly Market Comment – New S&P Sector Construct Could Create Volatility this Summer (Repost from March 12, 2018)

Followers of the CJL Weekly Market Comment are familiar with our practice of looking below the broader market indices to compare the fundamentals, price performance, and valuations of the 11 different S&P Sectors, 24 Industry Groups and, 157 Sub-Industries. This style of analysis dates back to the o...
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