Businesses, Stock Markets & the Economy

What Investors Should Know About Recent “Flash Mob” Trading (Schwab Center for Financial Research)

“… much of the latest market activity has not been driven by traditional investors or based on traditional fundamentals. It’s been driven by trading activity in both the options market and small subsets of stocks, including those most heavily shorted by hedge funds, as well as low-priced “penny stocks,” weaker-balance-sheet companies, and companies with no profits.”

What investors can do now

“Our advice is not to jump into the fray of frenzied speculation, but to rely on traditional disciplines around asset allocation and diversification. That is, make sure that your portfolio contains an appropriate blend of investments from various asset classes based on your investing goals, risk tolerance,  and time horizon, and that it is adequately diversified both within and across various asset classes.

Regularly rebalancing your portfolio also is important. Rebalancing can allow you to take profits in parts of the market that have been riding the sentiment wave, while adding to areas that have recently underperformed—in essence, staying in tune with the market by “adding low and trimming high,” while maintaining a focus on your longer-term strategic allocations.”

Additional Reading:

• What you need to know about GameStop’s stock price chaos. “Here’s how ordinary investors, spurred on by a Reddit message board, took on the big Wall Street funds and sent share prices soaring for the video game retailer.” (The Washington Post)
• The Tax Moves Day Traders Need to Make Now. “New, inexperienced investors are rushing into the market thanks to no-commission trades and the popular Robinhood trading app. What many don’t know is that they could owe Uncle Sam taxes on those trades.” (The Wall Street Journal)
• Finance Experts, Rookies Watch Cautiously As Reddit Users Snap Up GameStop Stock (UConn today). (sc – Note that adjunct finance professor Jeffrey Annello quoted in this article is Larry’s youngest son and Chris’s brother. Cool, right?)

Bridging the Gap(s): Converging and Diverging Trends Stemming From the Crisis (Market Commentary from Liz Ann Sonders, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Strategist, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.)

Key Points

• A visual look at the K-shaped COVID era; including converging and diverging trends coming out of last year.
• Broad shifts are underway within the stock market and economy, and the churning may take some time.
• Excessive optimism across measures of sentiment hasn’t cooled, but strong breadth remains a tailwind.

Your Finances & other Wealth Management links

15 Personal-Finance Lessons We Can All Learn From the Year of Covid-19. “Among them: You really do have to plan for emergencies, and your personal-finance decisions don’t exist in a vacuum.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Including:

• Emergencies do happen
• Buy when others are scared
• Manage your risks
• You need a will
• Your personal finances reflect your values
• Retirement plans need flexibility
• Things won’t stay bad—or good—forever
• This time is different. Not.
• Markets always fool us
• You should have a three-bucket strategy
• Rebalancing pays off
• Stay invested
• Yes, bonds are still important

The Environment & ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) Investing

To Counter Climate Change, We Need to Stop Burning Things (Bill McKibben)

COVID-19 & Your Health

A new interactive tool, “Answers to All Your Questions About Getting Vaccinated for Covid-19.” (The New York Times)

“The tool is easy to navigate. You can use a search box to type in key words or browse the eight categories. You’ll find questions about who is eligible, what to expect, safety and side effects, fertility and pregnancy, children and schools, medical concerns, how the vaccines work and life after vaccination.”

Time to double or upgrade masks as coronavirus variants emerge, experts say. “Better face coverings are needed to curb more-transmissible strains as vaccine rollout is underway, they say.” (The Washington Post)

‘I was lucky to find this vaccine anywhere’: An expert on finally getting the COVID-19 vaccine he helped to create (The Washington Post)

Your Physical & Mental Well-being

Bob Seawright shared the story, “These Precious Days,” on his weekly newsletter “The Better Letter.” He notes “this is the best thing I read this week. It’s about love, loss, helping, grace, stories, the power of narrative, randomness, serendipity, vocation, and calling. Prepare for leaky eyes.” (sic – A few weeks ago my well-read journalist niece Jessica also sent me this article. It is just a lovely read and well worth your time.)

This Week’s Serendipity

Favorite Books of 2020 “Audre Lorde, Keith Haring, Bruce Lee, chance, love, black holes, constraint as a catalyst of creativity, and a whisper of Whitman.” (Brain Pickings)