July 22, 2018 | Earnings, Shmernings. The Game Will Go On…

Stocks have had a pretty good run-up since their last swing low on June 28. Rallies in the FAANG stocks in particular have been quite impressive– as well they should be, since they are far and away the main beneficiaries of the huge sums of money thrown each day at the stock market by heedless portfolio managers. They also benefit from the  fact that the companies themselves have nothing better to do with hundreds of billions of dollars in spare cash than buy back their own shares. The effect is to inflate their PE multiples without producing a dime’s worth of economic growth. Earnings are due out this week for Google, Facebook and Amazon, so we’ll know soon whether DaBoyz remain willing and eager to put Other People’s Money on the line. If you think the aging bull market will sell for 30 times earnings before it tops, the current multiple of around 24 for the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 leaves plenty of room for the mania to continue.

Rick Ackerman July 22nd, 2018

Posted In: Rick's Picks

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