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Clearly, Not Everyone Is Getting Rich Off The Stock Market

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Well, the NY Fed was out today with its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for Q4 2017. Clearly, Americans are in a lot of debt. Take a look. Just a couple of quick hits from the report. Total U.S. household debt rose $193 billion in the 4th quarter, to a new all-time peak of $13.15 trillion. That's 17.9% above the most recent trough in Q2 2013. Broken down by segment, what do you suppose was the largest gain in percentage terms? Credit cards, with a 3.2% increase. In the picture above, the widening gap represented by the red arrows reflects the fact that non-housing debt is rising at a faster pace than housing debt. Here's what's troubling about that. Below is a picture of the stock market, as represented by the S&P 500 index, over that same period; from the most recent credit trough in Q2 2013 to the end of 2017. And thus, the title of this article. Over that period, the S&P 500 index rose by 75%; from roughly 1,600 to 2,800. Apparently, ho...
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Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Goldman Sachs -- Isn't It Ironic?

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A week or so ago, as I sat eating my delicious bowl of corn flakes, I recall a smile spreading across my face.

You see, I tend to watch CNBC over breakfast. That particular morning, one of their analysts was featuring the fact that that Dow had risen spectacularly following Donald Trump becoming President-elect on November 8, 2016. But that wasn't what made me smile.

The analyst continued to explain that the Dow is a price-weighted index, and thus the stocks with a higher share price move the average more. Long story short, he featured that one stock was responsible for something like 400 of the 1,600 or so points that the Dow had risen.

That stock? The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), up a mind-boggling 31.6% from November 8 through December 30! And my smile? Because, during the election, I remember consistently hearing the refrain that a Hillary Clinton victory would have been too much of a win for . . . wait for it . . . Goldman Sachs!

As Alanis Morissette asked so famously: Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

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Clearly, Not Everyone Is Getting Rich Off The Stock Market

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Well, the NY Fed was out today with its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for Q4 2017. Clearly, Americans are in a lot of debt. Take a look. Just a couple of quick hits from the report. Total U.S. household debt rose $193 billion in the 4th quarter, to a new all-time peak of $13.15 trillion. That's 17.9% above the most recent trough in Q2 2013. Broken down by segment, what do you suppose was the largest gain in percentage terms? Credit cards, with a 3.2% increase. In the picture above, the widening gap represented by the red arrows reflects the fact that non-housing debt is rising at a faster pace than housing debt. Here's what's troubling about that. Below is a picture of the stock market, as represented by the S&P 500 index, over that same period; from the most recent credit trough in Q2 2013 to the end of 2017. And thus, the title of this article. Over that period, the S&P 500 index rose by 75%; from roughly 1,600 to 2,800. Apparently, ho...
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