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7am Saturday
February 15, 2020
Good morning!
It seems that nothing can stop the streak of record highs for U.S. stocks. Are we living through a melt-up? It seems so.
Don’t miss the resource links at the end of today’s email. Our team has created some great content lately, and I’m really proud of their passion to teach others and simplify all things finance.
Quick Updates on the Market & Economy
1) US stocks were flat on Friday, but had more gains this week.
The Dow, S&P 500, and NASDAQ once again hit new all-time highs during the week and finished with the following 5-day gains:
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Through Friday the tech-heavy NASDAQ is up 8.45% this year and the blue-chip Dow Industrials are up 3.01% with the S&P 500 up 4.62%. Not a bad start at all:
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2) The Coronavirus continues to spread, but the growth of deaths have hit a new low.
Key developments via research from Bloomberg & Bespoke:
- There are now over 67,000 confirmed cases and 1,523 confirmed deaths worldwide.
- Especially encouraging is the fact that the growth of deaths has hit a new low.
- Recoveries currently stand at a bit more than 10% of all cases while deaths are slightly more than 2%.
- Experts are worried that the virus’ mild symptoms will cause those who carry it to unsuspectingly transmit it too far and fast.
- While Ebola kills half the people who get it and SARS killed 10%, the new coronavirus mortality rate appears to be far lower. About 2% of Chinese patients with confirmed cases have died, though some researchers estimate the mortality rate will be closer to 1% once all cases are counted.
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3) 30-Year mortgage rates are near an all time low.
The current rate on a 30-year mortgage is 3.45% which is just 0.12% higher than the all time low of 3.33% in 2012:
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Rates make buying a new home very affordable just in time for the spring push in the housing market.
4) US stocks continue their nearly 8 month long melt-up:
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My Favorite Finds This Week
+ Tweet of the Week – Goes to Ben Carlson on Valentine’s Day:
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Rumor is that Ben will be making an appearance on The Invested Dads Podcast this coming Thursday. Don’t miss it!
+ PODCAST 👉 How Does the SECURE Act Affect Me? (The Invested Dads) – Josh and Austin with a very important podcast on the changes from the new SECURE Act. This is a must listen if: 1) you or someone you know is approaching your 70s with a retirement account, and 2) if you inherit an IRA this year or expect to in the future.
+ BLOG 👉 How to Organize Your Filing Cabinet (The Everyday Advisor) – I have worked with Jess for nearly a year, and I can assure you that she is very organized. If you’re not sure how to keep track of all your financial documents you will want to visit this blog post where she provides some step by step guidance and simple tips on setting up your filing cabinet.
+ VIDEO 👉 February Market Update (Hixon Zuercher Capital Management) – Josh Robb has a great (and funny 🤣) 5-minute summary of the major economic headlines from the past month.
+ PODCAST 👉 Hannah Elliott on All Things Automotive (Masters In Business) – Barry Ritholtz interviews Hannah Elliott, a writer and car critic for Bloomberg, where she has spent six years covering luxury autos and motorcycles. Prior to that, she worked for eight years at Forbes magazine covering luxury cars, fashion and culture.
In case you haven’t picked up on it, I’m an auto enthusiast. I also believe the auto industry will see massive changes over the next decade as cars move toward electrification and autonomy. I really enjoyed listening to these two car fanatics talk about some of the coolest cars on the planet as well as where they see the industry going. By the way, I really want Hannah’s job when I grow up. 😃
That’s it for this Valentine’s Day weekend. Thanks for reading! ❤️
Have a great weekend,
Adam
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