The number of foreigners (i.e. foreign-born people) relative to total population varies across countries. Some countries such as those in Eastern Europe have low foreign-born population since they have been closed economies until the iron curtain fell. Luxembourg(LUX) and Switzerland (CHE) have the highest foreign-born population since they are tax havens. Mexico (MEX) and Poland(POL) have the …
U.S. stocks are expensive based on the forward P/E ratio. According to Factset, the current ratio of 17.6 is higher than the averages reached in 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Click to enlarge Source: Factset
The Periodic Table of Investment Returns for Asset Classes from 1997 thru 2016 is shown in the chart below. Last year Small Cap Value stocks were the best performers while international stocks were the worst performers. The last time foreign stocks had decent returns were before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09. Click to enlarge Source: Prudential
The Dow crossed 20,000 for the first time last month. The graphic below shows the index components back in March 1999 and January 2017. In 1999, the dot-com was all the craze but now it has replaced by social media, e-commerce 2.0, etc. Back then the constituent with the largest market cap was General Electric …
The Dow Jones hitting the 20,000 mark was big news in the media last week. While the Dow is popular, the S&P 500 is more representative of the broader US economy. According to an article by Brian Levitt at Oppenheimer Funds, the S&P 500 has had 964 new highs since its inception in 1957. In …