Financial markets finished the year near all-time highs, wrapping up a decade marked almost exclusively by bull markets. The S&P 500 Index gained another 9.06% in the fourth quarter, resulting in an overall gain of 31.48% for the U.S. benchmark in 2019. While it should be noted that this stellar year came off a low base thanks to a relatively large market downturn in December 2018, it still proved to be a year of strong economic growth and multiple expansion, with markets resilient against trade and political uncertainties. As was often the case in 2019, growth stocks outperformed their value counterparts in the fourth quarter, though the gap between the two did narrow in the second half of the year. Healthcare and technology stocks significantly outpaced many other sectors, while real estate and utilities lagged notably. Small-caps finished the quarter as the top performers, followed by large-caps and then mid-caps.
Continue reading “Condor Capital Reviews 4th Quarter 2019”Tag: Markets
From time to time, we publish our thoughts on current market events to provide clients with insights into these events and how they relate to our investment outlook and their portfolio, but we thought this would be a good time to provide our thoughts on volatility in the equity market in general. Over the years we have received questions on a wide range of topics, but at the end of the day the question most people are asking is – I think something bad is about to happen, should I sell my stocks? The answer, if you are positioned properly heading into any market volatility, is no.
Continue reading “General Thoughts on Equity Market Volatility”I wanted to reach out to address the recent stock market volatility. For the past few months, it seems as if every news headline has been negative and while there are certainly causes for concern, there are some reasons for optimism. Before touching on this, I wanted to reiterate some of my comments from our last letter and discuss our approach to portfolio construction.
I wanted to take a minute to address the most recent bout of volatility in the market. Before addressing the causes for the recent downturn and providing our thoughts, it’s important to remind investors of the benefits of having a diversified portfolio. Different areas of the market will outperform at different times and it can be tempting to wonder, why bother holding asset classes that are not performing as well as others at any given time? The reason is that changes in the market happen quickly, much more quickly than changes in the economy and much more often. In fact, since 1980 the average annual intra-year drop for the S&P 500 is 13.8%, yet the Index has rebounded to finish the year positive in 29 of the 38 years analyzed and averaged an annual gain of 8.8%.
Continue reading “Our Thoughts on the Recent Market Weakness”
On January 25th of this year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA/Dow) passed the 20,000 milestone for the first time ever. Seemingly every media outlet began to host discussions regarding whether investors should get back into the marketplace, how much further stocks can go, and a multitude of other investing-related topics. Continue reading “DOW 20,000 — Does It Matter?”