A roundup of what The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
Barry Ritholtz, New York-based founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management, interviewed WSJ journalist Jonathan Clements to discuss the relationship between money and happiness. According to Mr. Clements, buying stuff doesn’t work and there are three other ways to use money to improve living standards. One, spend on increasing time with friends and family. Two, build enough financial security through saving to spend time doing things we love doing and three, save enough to decrease financial anxiety.
“The Purpose of Money” – Ritholtz, The Big Picture (video)
See also: “11 things you can do right now to improve your life” – Humble Dollar
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A portion of the late-year equity market rally represented a bullish belief that trade tensions between the U.S. and China would subside. That appeared to happen, but the Financial Times argues that trade will continue to be an issue for investors in the months ahead,
“The announcement of a ‘phase one’ trade deal between Washington and Beijing have lifted the confidence of investors, businesses and consumers. This euphoria looks misplaced, however. Investors betting on a positive conclusion to the U.S.-China trade saga are still likely to be disappointed … Welcome though the small [positive effect of recent verbal agreements] for U.S. and Chinese growth next year may be, it does virtually nothing to reverse the considerable damage already wrought by President Donald Trump’s trade conflict … The risk remains substantial, therefore, of relations deteriorating once more and tariffs snapping back.”
“Market faith in U.S.-China trade deal is misplaced” – Financial Times (paywall)
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The Wealth of Common Sense investing site used a recent Barron’s article featuring famed investor Peter Lynch to discuss his highly successful process:
“Stock-picking sounds great when you read the folksy quotes from people like Lynch but when you realize how much work goes into those stock picks it’s not as easy as ‘buy what you know.’ He wasn’t just picking companies his wife noticed at the mall. He was talking to company management, suppliers, competitors, and industry experts for hundreds of companies. And dealing with numerous portfolio managers over the years makes you realize how rare the Peter Lynchs of the world are … Lynch told Barron’s, ‘The thesis underlying everything, whether you’re an actively managed fund or a passive fund, is that the U.S. will be okay. If you don’t believe that, you shouldn’t be in the stock market.’ ”
“Peter Lynch: The Barry Sanders of Investing” – A Wealth of Common Sense
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Diversion: “ The 10 Most Overrated Films of the Decade” – Variety
Tweet of the Day: “ @NewtonGroupSM This year, the yield for the oil-dominated S&P 500 Energy Index passed the yield for the S&P 500 Utilities index. The inversion of these two sector yields means that what was once priced as growth is now priced as value, and vice versa” – Twitter
Scott Barlow