Friday, January 24, 2014

Doing its own Thing

Last year, equities were up significantly. Some wondered what would happen this year. As I am writing this, the S&P 500 was back to the December 19th level of 1805. On January 15, 2014, the S&P hit a record high of 1848.  Interestingly, this record high for 2014 is the same as the closing point of the S&P at the end of the last year, meaning that the S&P is down about 2.5% since the end of 2013. Given that the stock market was up 28% last year, this change is barely a blip on the radar screen. So where is the money that is leaving the stock market going? Bonds are up in value! As I always say, the three rules of investing are: diversify, diversify, diversify. You never know which asset class is going to do the best. As an investor, the idea is not to hit home runs but to make money. After increasing so much last year, a correction, with the market dropping about 10%, would not be unusual. I believe that, in the long run, stocks will do very well.
Ed Mallon