Womack Investment Advisers

  David Kostin, the Goldman Sachs chief U.S. equity strategist, wrote in a note to clients “The U.S. election is just 81 days away and represents a significant risk to our year-end forecast.” Analysts often mention the uncertainty surrounding presidential elections in the United States, and this year is sure to be no exception. However, John Stoltzfus, CIO of Oppenheimer Asset Management told clients, “Embrace the uncertainty.”   His research showed that historically, elections haven’t done much to prevent stocks from going up regardless of which political party prevails. Furthermore, Stoltzfus writes, “Uncertainty usually comes with opportunity and risk—two considerations essential in making investments.”     A study by Deutsche Bank showed that in Presidential election years in which the contest is thought to be “close”, stocks generally go up until a month or so before the election, then pull back a bit, and then resume their uptrend from around the el...

  The shortest bear market in history is over.   The Nasdaq Composite and Standard & Poor’s 500 Indices finished at new highs last week. The stock market is considered to be a leading economic indicator, so strong stock market performance suggests economic improvement ahead.   There was a caveat to last week’s gains, though. One large technology company was responsible for 60 percent of the S&P’s weekly gains (0.7 percent), reported Ben Levisohn of Barron’s . The same large company is also a component of the Dow Jones Industrials Index, which finished the week flat. Without that stock, the Dow would have finished the week lower. Levisohn wrote:   “The S&P 500 might have hit a record last week, but most stocks have been having bad days. On Friday, for instance, just 220 stocks in the S&P 500 closed higher for the day, and that was far from an anomaly. The S&P 500’s cumulative advance/decline line – a measure of the number of stocks fi...