Stocks Up, But Not Out of the Woods Just Yet

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I am not going to sit here and tell you that I am some stock market guru, or that I have any intimate knowledge of what the market will do. I WILL say, however, that I have been in the markets long enough to know overreactions when I see them, and call those out when I do. Today the stock market returned nearly 1300 points it gave up last week on the DOW. That's just a bit over 5% which is a rather impressive gain no matter the circumstances. In addition to that both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also returned roughly 4.5% for the day. I said at the end of last week that this week would still be rocky, but that we would see some stabalization. I still stand by that speculation. Tomorrow could really go either way. I know that sounds like a 50/50 prediction which is easy enough to call and easy enough to be right about. But what I mean by that is it depends on the news and it depends on whether or not Wall Street has recognized that stocks are still stable and WILL continue to be stable despite what is happening with the Coronavirus. Again, all of the fundamentals that are important to the economy as a whole, and how the stock market relates to it, are strong as ever. We have solid jobs numbers. Consumer confidence ticked up another 1.1 points recently, and there are no indicators in yield curve dynamics or other indicators to suggest any recessionary pressures on the economy. So for now we are good on that front. What I suggest by my 50/50 call is really that the markets need to find their footing. In other words, where do we feel is the "sweet spot" for valuations with the Coronavirus now priced into the market? All that means is that we are not out of the woods yet. Give it the rest of the week, and again, by the time next Monday hits we should be back on at least a fairly normal track with regular market influences once again driving the markets. I offer these updates since a lot of us here, in the U.S., have IRAs and 401ks and other plans which are directly tied to the markets and so I hope these are helpful to dispel some of the panic, and keep people comfortable about their current positions. It is the least I can do to offer something of value outside of my regular what I had for dinner posts.