The Economy vs. The Stock Market: Something's Not Right

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The U.S. economy is heading into a recession, maybe a greater Great Recession than the last one.

Yet, despite that frightening prospect, equity markets – having just tumbled from their mid-February 2020 all-time highs to their March 23, 2020 coronavirus lows – are already back in full bull market mode.

Something's not right.

Either the market's right and the worst is over for most publicly-traded companies, or the buy-the-dip crowd's got it wrong and a deeper-than-expected or longer-than-expected recession is going to knock stocks back to their lows or maybe take them a lot lower.

Don't Trust the Stock Market's "Head Fake" Rallies

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"It's all good until it isn't" is one of my favorite sayings, which happens to be exactly what happened with the bull market's last run-up to all-time highs on February 12, 2020.

The hot-mess rally, after news about the spread of novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China, knocked global and U.S. markets down from mid-January, looked good. It looked like virus fears were overblown when China said the rate of infection was slowing.

Stocks got right back on the bull and rode it.

It was all good.

Until it wasn't. The virus was actually spreading across China and the globe. When markets realized they'd been duped by fake news out of China, the selling began.

Now, we're facing the opposite of "It's all good." Now, "It's all bad until it isn't."

Passive Investing's Dirty Little Secret: It's All Good, Until It Isn't

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The secret momentum driver elevating market indexes to all-time highs, again and again, is none-other than the "passive investing" trend. It's going on unbeknownst to even the drivers of this momentum bus.

Investors who don't understand how big an impact money flowing into index funds has had on the market's performance probably have no idea what could happen if the trend stalls, or worse, reverses.

Here are the pitfalls of passive investing and how bad the fallout could be if passive investors discover the trap they've entered, turn active, and sell.

Don’t Believe the “Global Debt Bomb Will Crash Markets Today” Line

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Investors keep staying on the sidelines due to one very popular – or rather, unpopular -narrative: The global debt bomb is finally exploding.

For years now, fearmongering headlines on the subject have continued to stoke investor anxiety.

When debt levels skyrocketed in 2019, so did headlines like "Titanic Iceberg of World Debt Could Sink a Slowing Global Economy."

As the last decade of the 2010s wound down, year-end predictions and warnings multiplied, with December 2019 registering several doom-and-gloom debt bomb headlines.

On Dec. 1, Bloomberg postulated, "The Way Out for a World Economy Hooked on Debt? More Debt."

On Dec. 20, ABC News' top story was, "The World Bank Warns a 'Wave of Debt' Could Swamp Global Economy."

And in Britain, The Guardian on Jan. 4 fretted, "Debt Will Kill the Global Economy. But It Seems No One Cares."

The fuse has been lit on the global debt bomb – but it's not time to pull out of the markets. Here's the real story you need to know… Full Story

Your Future Investments Depend on China's Next Moves in Hong Kong

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Only days after hitting an all-time high of 28,090.21, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.15%, closing Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019, at 27,766.29.

That's a small loss considering that the United States is threatening China over its control of Hong Kong.

With Congress passing the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act this week, which now goes to the White House for the president to sign or veto, markets could see more profit taking, or they could do what they've been doing: ignoring bad news and moving steadily higher.

The End of the Bull Market Is Coming: Here's How to Time It Correctly

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Last Friday, I told you that timing markets isn't only possible, but it's very, very profitable, and I ticked off lots of household names who've proven it works by making billions of dollars timing markets successfully.

But there's a trick to it.

Today, I'm going to reveal what it is.

Why now?

Because a lot of people think this bull market's going to end, maybe very soon, maybe spectacularly, and they either haven't gotten fully invested out of fear, or they're going to sell early, maybe very early, because they're afraid they won't see the end coming.

Even worse, investors who don't see the end coming could ride the market all the way down and lose, maybe everything.

Good timing allows you to load up in the right direction and gets you out of the way when things turn.

The kind of timing that I'm talking about that's going to make you a lot of money, in bull markets and bear markets, isn't the kind of clockwork timing that traders employ.

It's timing based on two things: investment horizons and trends.

How a Manufactured or Virtual Recession Could Cause a Market Crash

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Not everyone likes to hear good news about the economy.

Typically, political parties out of power want to see seated opponents get clobbered by economic failure.

In this age, a real or virtual recession could be manufactured given today's media reach and technological tools when leading to an election – if even just in the minds of voters.

So, you need to ask yourself: Is a recession being manufactured right now? Who benefits from a failing economy or just pushing the recession narrative? Could a manufactured recession or incessant recession fearmongering crash the stock market? And, what would happen to you?

Well, I'm going to answer those questions for you.

Only, you're not going to like what's really happening and how bad it's going to get.

Lyft Flies Too Close to the Sun: What Do You Think Happened?

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Listen, I'm not the kind of guy to say, "I told you so," but if I was, I'd sure be saying it now.

That's because I told you a few weeks ago that the former unicorn known as Lyft Inc. (Nasdaq:LYFT) would crash and burn on its IPO.

And that's exactly what it did.

Only, it's worse than the press is making it out to be.

Here's how Lyft, a distant cousin of Icarus, flew too close to the sun…