April was almost shockingly strong for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 4.42%, the Nasdaq 4.27%, and the Dow a whopping 5.87%. International stocks climbed just shy of 4%. Yet, the strength was mostly in larger cap stocks. The Russell 2000 small cap index was up just 1.8% in April, and has scored only a 7.83% gain over the last 12 months—a time period during which the S&P 500 climbed more than 15% and the Dow 17.6%.
While we’re excited to see our prediction come true that larger cap stocks are going to be a better bet than smaller cap stocks (we’ve cut back on the latter and increased the former in recent years in our model portfolios), we’re more than a bit nervous about all this excitement over stocks in general. The U.S economy is slowing while the real estate market is sinking. Either the economy will pick up, housing firm up, or bond prices go up—or the stock market is going to sink.
We’re planning to make some changes in our portfolios to reflect this recent run-up in stocks. Expect to see some trades in June.
The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.66% in April.
Harbor Bond was up just 0.26% less that the 0.51% return of the Vanguard total bond market index fund (VBMFX). This is odd because famed bond fund manager Bill Gross seems to think interest rates are going down in our pending recession, then go up later on, after the government makes missteps trying to fix the tough patch. By this logic, he should be longer duration than the market index, and should have made more money last month as rates crept down slightly in April.
The U.S. dollar has been sinking again and it has helped the American Century International Bond fund (BEGBX). The fund rose 1.44% in April, and is up 4.12% over the last three months—quite a bit more than bonds in general.
After lagging a bit over the last year or so, health care stocks are taking off. Health care Select SPDR (XLV), our health care ETF, scored a remarkable 7.19% return in April, helping us keep pace with the market even though we were “dragged” down by bonds. If you look at how a formerly beaten down stock like Merck (MRK) has been doing lately, you’ll see why.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) continues its market beating ways, with a 5.16% return in April. The fund is now up 16.87% since it was added to the portfolios half a year ago.
April was almost shockingly strong for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 4.42%, the Nasdaq 4.27%, and the Dow a whopping 5.87%. International stocks climbed just shy of 4%. Yet, the strength was mostly in larger cap stocks. The Russell 2000 small cap index was up just 1.8% in April, and has scored only a 7.83% gain over the last 12 months—a time period during which the S&P 500 climbed more than 15% and the Dow 17.6%.
While we’re excited to see our prediction come true that larger cap stocks are going to be a better bet than smaller cap stocks (we’ve cut back on the latter and increased the former in recent years in our model portfolios), we’re more than a bit nervous about all this excitement over stocks in general. The U.S economy is slowing while the real estate market is sinking. Either the economy will pick up, housing firm up, or bond prices go up—or the stock market is going to sink.
We’re planning to make some changes in our portfolios to reflect this recent run-up in stocks. Expect to see some trades in June.
The Aggressive Growth portfolio climbed 3.73% in April
Mega cap-oriented Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 Index (BRLIX) scored a 4.92% return, as would be expected now that the market is being led by ’90s era large cap stocks like Microsoft, Cisco, Coke, Merck, Procter & Gamble, and the like.
After lagging a bit over the last year or so, health care stocks are taking off. Healthcare
Select SPDR (XLV), our health care ETF, scored a remarkable 7.19% return in April, helping us keep pace with the market even though we were “dragged” down by bonds. If you look at how a formerly beaten down stock like Merck (MRK) has been doing lately, you’ll see why.
Harbor Bond was up just 0.26% less that the 0.51% return of the Vanguard total bond market index fund (VBMFX). This is odd because famed bond fund manager Bill Gross seems to think interest rates are going down in our pending recession, then go up later on, after the government makes missteps trying to fix the tough patch. By this logic, he should be longer duration than the market index, and should have made more money last month as rates crept down slightly in April.
Health care was hot but biotech was even hotter. SPDR Biotech (XBI) was up 9.03% in April, reversing lackluster performance of recent months with a bang.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) continues its market beating ways, with a 5.16% return in April. The fund is now up 16.87% since it was added to the portfolios half a year ago.
Telecom stocks have settled down after scoring big wins last year. Vanguard Telecom Services ETF (VOX) was up just 0.98% in April.
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April was almost shockingly strong for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 4.42%, the Nasdaq 4.27%, and the Dow a whopping 5.87%. International stocks climbed just shy of 4%. Yet, the strength was mostly in larger cap stocks. The Russell 2000 small cap index was up just 1.8% in April, and has scored only a 7.83% gain over the last 12 months—a time period during which the S&P 500 climbed more than 15% and the Dow 17.6%.
While we’re excited to see our prediction come true that larger cap stocks are going to be a better bet than smaller cap stocks (we’ve cut back on the latter and increased the former in recent years in our model portfolios), we’re more than a bit nervous about all this excitement over stocks in general. The U.S economy is slowing while the real estate market is sinking. Either the economy will pick up, housing firm up, or bond prices go up—or the stock market is going to sink.
We’re planning to make some changes in our portfolios to reflect this recent run-up in stocks. Expect to see some trades in June.
The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.66% in April.
Harbor Bond was up just 0.26% less that the 0.51% return of the Vanguard total bond market index fund (VBMFX). This is odd because famed bond fund manager Bill Gross seems to think interest rates are going down in our pending recession, then go up later on, after the government makes missteps trying to fix the tough patch. By this logic, he should be longer duration than the market index, and should have made more money last month as rates crept down slightly in April.
The U.S. dollar has been sinking again and it has helped the American Century International Bond fund (BEGBX). The fund rose 1.44% in April, and is up 4.12% over the last three months—quite a bit more than bonds in general.
After lagging a bit over the last year or so, health care stocks are taking off. Health care Select SPDR (XLV), our health care ETF, scored a remarkable 7.19% return in April, helping us keep pace with the market even though we were “dragged” down by bonds. If you look at how a formerly beaten down stock like Merck (MRK) has been doing lately, you’ll see why.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) continues its market beating ways, with a 5.16% return in April. The fund is now up 16.87% since it was added to the portfolios half a year ago.
April was almost shockingly strong for stocks. The S&P 500 jumped 4.42%, the Nasdaq 4.27%, and the Dow a whopping 5.87%. International stocks climbed just shy of 4%. Yet, the strength was mostly in larger cap stocks. The Russell 2000 small cap index was up just 1.8% in April, and has scored only a 7.83% gain over the last 12 months—a time period during which the S&P 500 climbed more than 15% and the Dow 17.6%.
While we’re excited to see our prediction come true that larger cap stocks are going to be a better bet than smaller cap stocks (we’ve cut back on the latter and increased the former in recent years in our model portfolios), we’re more than a bit nervous about all this excitement over stocks in general. The U.S economy is slowing while the real estate market is sinking. Either the economy will pick up, housing firm up, or bond prices go up—or the stock market is going to sink.
We’re planning to make some changes in our portfolios to reflect this recent run-up in stocks. Expect to see some trades in June.
The Aggressive Growth portfolio climbed 3.73% in April
Mega cap-oriented Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 Index (BRLIX) scored a 4.92% return, as would be expected now that the market is being led by ’90s era large cap stocks like Microsoft, Cisco, Coke, Merck, Procter & Gamble, and the like.
After lagging a bit over the last year or so, health care stocks are taking off. Healthcare
Select SPDR (XLV), our health care ETF, scored a remarkable 7.19% return in April, helping us keep pace with the market even though we were “dragged” down by bonds. If you look at how a formerly beaten down stock like Merck (MRK) has been doing lately, you’ll see why.
Harbor Bond was up just 0.26% less that the 0.51% return of the Vanguard total bond market index fund (VBMFX). This is odd because famed bond fund manager Bill Gross seems to think interest rates are going down in our pending recession, then go up later on, after the government makes missteps trying to fix the tough patch. By this logic, he should be longer duration than the market index, and should have made more money last month as rates crept down slightly in April.
Health care was hot but biotech was even hotter. SPDR Biotech (XBI) was up 9.03% in April, reversing lackluster performance of recent months with a bang.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) continues its market beating ways, with a 5.16% return in April. The fund is now up 16.87% since it was added to the portfolios half a year ago.
Telecom stocks have settled down after scoring big wins last year. Vanguard Telecom Services ETF (VOX) was up just 0.98% in April.