Womack Investment Advisers

With everyone locked up in their homes around this time last year, many scientists who study population demographics predicted a subsequent “baby boom”.  This, however, does not seem to have been the case.  The latest data from Europe suggests advanced economies are almost certainly in for the opposite—a baby bust. Data from Spain estimates the number of babies born between December 2020 and January 2021 was down roughly 20% from the same time the year before.  Data from Italy shows a similar pattern.  Italy and Spain already have some of the lowest fertility rates in the world – well below the so-called “replacement rate” - and it is not hard to imagine why potential parents may have put off the enormous responsibility of having children over the past year. (Chart from Chartr.co) Best regards,  Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.   WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC. Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK  73013 California Office...

If you are in the market for a new home, you may want to close the deal sooner rather than later.  Construction costs are soaring and appear only to be going higher.  Lumber prices hit $1000 per thousand board feet, an all-time high in recent weeks, and has risen more than 300% since the pandemic low last spring.   Paul Jannke, Forest Economic Advisors LLC.'s principal of lumber said, “Production is going to have a hard time keeping up with demand growth as the world economy bounces back from Covid-19 in 2021-22.”  So how much are these rising costs adding to a new home’s construction cost?  The National Association of Home Builders estimates rising lumber prices have added a stunning $24,400 to the cost of a home over the past ten months.  Now don’t forget to add in the rising price of copper, which has gone up 87% in the trailing year…well, you get the picture. (Chart from zerohedge.com) Best regards,  Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.   WOM...

  Air travel plummeted during the dark days of Spring of 2020, dealing the air travel industry the worst blow since World War II.  At the worst, domestic US air travel was down -86%, while international air travel was down -98%.   Since then a rebound has taken shape, particularly for domestic US air travel, and at the turn of the year was down “just” 40%.  International air travel did not recover nearly to that degree, however, finishing the year still down more than 80% from pre-pandemic levels. Cargo fights, on the other hand, have recovered nearly all the way, and at their worst were down “only” 25%. (Chart from VisualCapitalist.com) Best regards,  Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.   WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC. Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK  73013 California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122 Phone (405) 340-1717 - Toll Free (877) 340-1717   Website:   ...

It has been a little over a year since the coronavirus pandemic blindsided the U.S. economy and crashed the stock market into a short-lived bear market.  The new bull market that began at the end of March / start of April is thus now about 11 months old.  That’s one of the key reasons why analysts at Truist Wealth think the upswing in the S&P 500 still has plenty of room to run.   Looking at data over the past six decades, Truist asserts that the current bull-market may be both too young and too limited in terms of price gains to be over anytime soon.  The current gains are much lower than the average gain since 1957, and the age of this bull is not even close to the average duration of 5 years. Best regards,  Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.   WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC. Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK  73013 California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122 Phone (405) 340-17...

  AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES IN THE WORLD ARE…  Every year,  The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)  reports on the worldwide cost of living by surveying the cost of 138 goods and services in major cities around the world. As of September 2020, prices were up just 0.3 percent, year-to-year. The cost of consumer staples remained fairly steady, overall. However, the prices for recreation (which includes personal electronics), personal care, tobacco, alcohol, and domestic help, increased. The report stated: “Amid the pandemic, price-conscious consumers have also opted for cheaper products in many countries, increasing price competition for less-expensive goods…On the other hand, high-earning consumers have been comparatively unaffected by the pandemic. While they are likely to shop less, prices of premium products have remained resilient. Supply-chain problems have also had differing impacts on different goods, pushing up the price of high-demand products such as comp...

  Students of financial markets may have noted a historically unusual event last week. On Thursday, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes briefly matched the dividend yield for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index. This type of convergence is uncommon. In normal times, the yield on 10-year Treasuries tends to be higher than the dividend yield of the S&P 500. Felix Salmon of Axios explained: “The 10-year Treasury note is a risk-free asset: If you hold it for 10 years, you know exactly how much it's going to return…The S&P 500 dividend yield is normally lower than the risk-free rate. Investors earn less in dividends than [they] would holding the same amount of money in Treasury bonds, but they hope that rising stock prices will make up the difference.” These, however, are not normal times. Throughout much of 2020, the S&P 500 Index offered investors a return comparable to, or higher than, 10-year Treasuries. Low Treasury yields reflected the Federal R...

  For most young people, retirement is pretty much the last thing on their minds as they enter the workforce.  Still, almost everyone knows that the sooner saving for retirement is begun, the better off they’ll eventually be.   Last year was a tough year financially for most average Americans.  Between March 2020 and January 2021, around 1.6 million people took money out of their 401(k) plans under the CARES Act.  However, despite the volume of withdrawals, around a third of 401(k) savers managed to increase their savings.  So how much money does the average American now have in his/her retirement account?  Fidelity provided CNBC with the average amount of money Americans have saved in retirement accounts as of the fourth quarter of 2020, as well as contribution by % of salary, broken out by age cohort. Best regards,   Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.   WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC. Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street...