Image source:  The biggest weight on inflation is going to be shelter. Video Length: 00:04:59As Inflation Slows to 2%, Powell Expects a Bumpy PathNonfarm Jobs Increased by 245K Last Month – Behind The NumbersLabor Market Loosening Is In Its Infancy

Image Source:  High yield securities are thought of primarily as income generators. But less attention is paid to their ability to compound income over time.There are three drivers for compounding income from any investment: Reinvesting dividends Dividend growth on a per share basis The time over which the investment is held Reinvesting dividends is especially powerful with high-yield securities. Higher yields mean that you can compound your income stream faster by reinvesting dividends.If all dividends from a 5.0% yielding stock are reinvested, you will compound your income stream at approximately 5.0% annually.And since high yield stocks, on average, don’t have particularly high growth rates, you can “create” income growth by reinvesting dividends until you need them for personal finance reasons.There are many high yield securities out there. But it’s non as common for a high-yield security to pay rising dividends on a per share basis over time.When this happens, your income compounds, even when you don’t reinvest dividends.But if you do reinvest dividends, you get compounding benefits from both owning more shares (through reinvesting dividends), and receiving more income from each share (from dividend growth on a per share basis).Therefore, finding stocks with a high current yield with dividend increases, can be a powerful combination.The following 10 high yield dividend compounders have current yields above 5%, and Dividend Risk Scores of ‘C’ or better. The list also excludes REITs, BDCs, and MLPs. High Yield Dividend Compounder #10: Evergy Inc. (EVRG) Dividend Yield: 4.3% Dividend Growth Rate: 5.0% Evergy is an electric utility holding company incorporated in […]

As the year 2024 comes to an end, the US stock market has become even more overvalued while being trumpeted as a poster boy for the well-being of America.(Click on image to enlarge) Basis the Shiller/Cape ratio, the US stock market is vastly more overvalued than it was in 1929.US money printing and debt are the “hallowed pillars” that have allowed it to stay overvalued since the 2008 lows, but as the Trump administration 2.0 begins its reign, that’s likely to change. In early 2025, in anticipation of an end to the free money ride, the US stock market could quickly begin to look like a hybrid of the 1929 and 1966 debacles.(Click on image to enlarge) While major fiat currencies are burning against the dollar, the dollar itself is in a death spiral against supreme money gold.  The situation is perhaps best described as… eery and ominous.(Click on image to enlarge) The stock market advance/decline line looks shaky, as do the Dow Transports.The Industrials also look toppy.From a price/earnings ratio perspective, to reverse the overvalued situation of most of the US stock market while it continues to rise… Rather than the supposedly awesome 3% GDP growth that most analysts are projecting, it’s likely that GDP growth of about 20% (or more) would be required to alleviate the danger.  What about the purported key relationship of the dollar index (USDX/DXY) and gold?(Click on image to enlarge) In 1976, the dollar index was at about 108, and it’s about 108 now.In 1976, gold was about […]

There was a minor flight to safety in the quiet market action today.The Dollar rose.Gold rose.Stocks and silver were trading lower.And so the year ends.Have a pleasant New Year’s eve.(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)(Click on image to enlarge)

Image Source:  It seems like a quaint anachronism now, but Y2K was all too real for many of us. It was 25 years ago, right about now and in the days leading up to it, there was an undercurrent of concern, if not fear or dread, about unintended effects around the turn of the millennium. While many might say that the fears were unfounded, I’ll assert that the ho-hum reaction was because enough people had enough respect for the potential consequences and acted accordingly. Yet the stock market felt a nasty aftereffect…The whole problem stemmed from an issue that now seems completely anachronistic.In an era where some of us routinely carry around as much as a terabyte of data in our pockets, it is nearly impossible to imagine that computer memory was precious and expensive. But look at an old movie, where computers took up whole rooms and were backed up by giant tapes or punch cards.Even by 1999 this was no longer the case, but significant amounts of legacy code that was written in that era were still in use. A common way that early programmers saved valuable memory was to refer to years as two-digit, not four-digit numbers.Early on, those two digits were a big resource saver. The concern of course was that “00” was less than “99”. Another was that any program that utilized an equation with “00” could return “not a number”, or something else that caused the program to crash. Thus, a global effort to find and […]

Image Source:  This is what I’d call a highly unusual “Santa Claus rally” period – what with the consecutive days of selling and all. But keep it in perspective; volume is light this time of year and the bears don’t have much fight in them right now.This is a great time to reflect on a record year for the market – a year rife with opportunities, particularly in leadership sectors like communications and consumer discretionaries.On the other hand, this is the first time in three months that I have minimal crypto exposure, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a sideways grind there in the coming weeks and months. On the other other hand, that strikes me as being healthy for this asset.This all signals to me that bulls will still have the edge in 2025, although the possibility of volatility can’t be ruled out.Here’s what I see out there…Video Length: 00:10:37