Womack Investment Advisers

As the stock market continues its seemingly relentless march higher, it’s reasonable to expect that the mood of investors would be positive.  However, analysts are getting concerned that optimism is reaching levels seen before at major stock market peaks.  According to the Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index, the level is at its highest since September of 2000.  The latest boost in optimism pushed the index almost 100 points higher over the past 18 months.  The 98 point hike in that time frame is the largest increase in the 20-year history of the index (other than during sharp rebounds from sudden plunges).  

Womack Weekly Commentary September 25, 2017 The Markets Geopolitics, what is it good for? Absolutely nothin'! In January, Robert Kahn of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in Global Economics Monthly : “Markets showed impressive resilience in the face of a range of geopolitical shocks in 2016, but recent market moves suggest this year could be different…It should be the year that global geopolitical risks provide the volatility in markets that I, and many other economists, have been predicting for some time.” Kahn may share the bemusement of bond market prognosticators who have anticipated the end of the bull market in bonds for years and have yet to see their predictions prove out. So far in 2017, investor confidence has remained impervious to geopolitical threats. Bloomberg reported, while diplomats at the United Nations stress over North Korea’s threat to drop a hydrogen bomb, Russia’s provocations along the borders of Eastern Europe, ...