Is The Stock Market In Trouble? Show 67

In news that’ll make you do a double take, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that Robert Kaplan, a guy who sits on the board of the Federal Reserve, made multiple million-dollar-plus stock trades in 2020.

The Federal Reserve is a group of non-elected regulators who help determine what our interest rates will be, and whether the government should create currency to buy government bonds to stimulate the economy.

The officials like Kaplan are required to file public disclosures, and his fillings indicate that his trading represented at least $27 million. This is nothing out of the ordinary, though. Past board members have operated similarly. It just makes me scratch my head and think: should people who stand to directly benefit from the Fed’s decisions get to have a say in the Fed’s decisions?

Last year, the government was buying bonds issued by Apple. Kaplan’s disclosure indicates that he was trading Apple stock. Do you see what’s going on here? If there was ever an ethically gray area, this is it.

If you ever turn on CNBC, you may have seen a bald guy wearing a tie commenting on the stock market. His name is Jim Cramer. He’s normally bullish on the stock market, but last week he began blowing the alarm whistle.  The reasons go on outlined in show.

Bloomberg News wasn’t far behind CNBC in reporting that “top banks came out with a nervous message about the stock market.” Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citi Group, and Bank of America all weighed in that the stock market is vulnerable to a pullback.

Are you getting sucked in to the market at what may be its top? Or have you allocated your savings in such a way to minimize the downside risks?
 
Do you know how much risk you have in your accounts? If we do nothing else for you, we’d be happy to show you so you can be informed. If you’d like to take us up on a risk report, call our office at 864.641.7955.

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