http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick? The Retired Investor/@theMarket Mon, 02 Oct 2023 18:04:26 EDT en-us http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4391 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4391 Fri, 29 Sep 2023 15:48:00 EDT September has been a story of higher-bond yields, a stronger dollar, and spiking oil prices. The higher these assets climbed, the lower the stock market fell. And now we enter October, a month that is notorious for providing negative returns at least in the first weeks of the... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4390 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4390 Thu, 28 Sep 2023 16:19:00 EDT On Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, $24 billion in emergency funding for the nation's child day-care industry expires. Estimates are that as many as 70,000 care centers or more will close over the next year, impacting as many as 3.2 million kids. The downside for working women with young children... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4389 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4389 Fri, 22 Sep 2023 16:50:00 EDT The financial markets were expecting a lot of good news out of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting this week. Investors were betting that not only would the Fed pause, but possibly announce an end of interest rate hikes altogether. Some even expected a timetable for future rate cuts that... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4388 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4388 Thu, 21 Sep 2023 16:02:00 EDT Over the last month, pot stocks have spiked higher. Some have doubled in price. The news that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency may reclassify marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to Schedule III has given new hope to this beleaguered industry and... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4387 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4387 Sat, 16 Sep 2023 10:26:00 EDT Stocks did remarkably well this week considering the macroeconomic data. That could be signaling further upside soon for the financial markets.   The decline in the inflation rate over the past six months has been encouraging. However, the recent climb in oil and gasoline prices... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4386 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4386 Fri, 15 Sep 2023 14:54:00 EDT Oct. 1, 2023, is the deadline to avert yet another government shutdown. At this point, the chances are high that partisan politics will once again disappoint the country and most voters.   The truth is that the U.S. has a long history of dysfunctional shutdowns. There have been 20... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4385 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4385 Fri, 08 Sep 2023 16:35:00 EDT As we enter the second week of the month, September is living up to its reputation as a bad time for stocks. No matter the reasons, stocks should see further declines in the week ahead.   There are several villains in this sell-off besides seasonal factors, however. Bond yields... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4384 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4384 Thu, 07 Sep 2023 16:24:00 EDT Women with young children have hit their stride in America's workforce. The ability to work remotely has given these women the flexibility to make money while raising children.   A new report in June 2023 by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution indicated that... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4383 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4383 Thu, 31 Aug 2023 16:27:00 EDT Decades after the first lunar landing, the space race has come back into vogue. Driving the competition is the potential value of the moon's economic, scientific, and even geopolitical promise.   Dominance in space, while I was growing up, was something confined to comic books... http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4382 http://www.iberkshires.com/blogs/Bill_Schmick?bid=4382 Sat, 26 Aug 2023 10:37:00 EDT Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that he was "prepared to raise rates further" at the Jackson Hole Symposium this week. Investors who were hoping to hear a more dovish outlook were disappointed.   The market walked away with an understanding that interest rates had two...