Now Is the Time to Look Well Beyond Now
Ok, so we passed the 4th of July landmark in America and thus far no summer swoon…
That said, volumes are slowing, bad news headlines are blocking out all sunlight, virus data is being presented as the ideal template for Armageddon, political divisiveness is nearly peaking, and earnings season is being prepped for full-on data flow shortly…and they’re sure to be the worst "growth" numbers on record, right?
IS everyone getting my drift?
So, except for the virus and the worst earnings season on record dead ahead it’s set to be a pretty normal summer.
It’s hazy and rapidly approaching the boring stage of the slowest period of the year.
While I would love to suggest that markets will simply keep up with the "V-shaped" recovery that almost all experts suggest still cannot happen, I would MUCH prefer if we simply went quiet: choppy, go nowhere trading on lighter volume - a little up and then a little back.
That, my friends, would be a perfect way to end summer and trudge through the earnings season right around the corner.
Sadly, things are never perfect.
The Bad News First
Eh, wait a minute, all there is out there is bad news.
Expect the headlines to keep getting worse, the cases to keep rising (the key is to watch deaths), and the political shenanigans to increase until election eve.
And yet, in the midst of all that...
It’s the end of the world stuff and yet retail sales were only down 7% from last year at this time.
SEVEN percent?!
Excuse me while I choke on my coffee.
The Reality
Now is the time to look well beyond now – years past the current angst, fears, turmoil, destruction and everywhere-we-look disruption.
It’s called building wealth and it’s not easy to do.
Over the next few months and quarters, a new dawn will become clearer.
Technology is just beginning to take over every single part of our lives. And if you think it already has then you’ve big surprises ahead.
Every aspect of every business will change - consumers, clients, providers and builders will all adapt to the New Economy ahead.
Oh, and the naysayers are correct; we will not go back to the last normal. Instead we will evolve into a new normal just as we have done after every disastrous event which has befallen us right up until now.
Footprints
The latest data on US housing is up in the year-on-year data big style, and right in the middle of the pandemic.
The increases in purchase demand in the pipeline shows a 33% rise from where it was a year ago.
Meanwhile the tech sectors could sure use a corrective wave to spook even the small percentage of bullish investors away, though I suspect setbacks will be short-lived with $18 Trillion sitting in bank accounts and 10-year bonds selling at 135+ times earnings.
Yep, the world is changing forever.
And every single thing will become new again.