Will The Robo-Advisors Take Your Job? (Diamandis, Edelman) - Exponential...

The Global Evolution of Networks and Computing Systems (Brad Templeton) ...

Internet Stocks To Lead NASDAQ To New Highs In 2015

The internet stocks are showing relative price strength after a year of price consolidation and will likely lead the NASDAQ to new highs in 2015.  The largest companies by market cap in the Dow Jones Internet Composite index are listed above.  Notice that Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOGL & GOOG) make up approximately 20% of the index alone.  Google has been moving sideways for the majority of 2014 and I think is modestly valued relative to other technology companies.  FDN is the largest ETF that tracks this index.

Russell 2000 Turns Positive For The Year. Small Cap Stocks To Lead As Risk On Trend Resumes.

The Russell 2000 has rallied hard from the October lows after being down >10% for the year.  If history serves as an appropriate guide, small caps will lead the S&P 500 to the end of the year and beyond.  IWM is the largest ETF that tracks the Russell 2000.  VB, VXF and IJR are likely better ETF choices to track small US stock indices.

Microsoft Is Taking Off Like It Did In The Early 90s

Microsoft (MSFT) recently passed $400B in market cap.  Just by looking at the above chart, it appears to be in a long term uptrend similar to that of the early 1990s.

Canadian Banks No Longer Leading US Banks. Trouble Ahead For The Canadian Economy?

The Canadian banks (XFN) have outperformed their US counterparts (XLF) since 2009.  They have been placed on a global pedestal due to their reluctance to participate in the subprime mortgage debt and collateralized debt obligations that precipitated the Great Recession.  Their balance sheets remained extremely healthy and their stock prices reflected this to this day.  But that was then...

Two of the 4 wheels have blown on the car that is the Canadian economy.  Precious metals and material stocks are down some 70% since 2011.  Now stocks of energy producing companies are free falling in tandem with the price of oil which seems to be in global abundance despite the fact that the opposite view held the public consensus only 6 years ago.  Don't get me started on the Canadian housing market.

Banks and financial sectors reflect the overall health of a country's economy.  Their relative performance is predictive of the relative performance of a given country's economy.  The chart above would suggest that growth in the US economy will continue to outpace that of the Canadian economy.  If the Canadian bank index is unable to post new 52-week highs and/or trends lower trouble is ahead.

Digital/Synthetic Biology (Raymond McCauley) - Exponential Finance 2014

Exponential Thinking (Peter Diamandis) - Exponential Finance 2014

Vanguard Canada Must Own ETFs for Canadian Investors. VUN and VFV.

Vanguard Canada provide the best and cheapest ETFs available to Canadian investors.  Two must have ETFs for Canadian investors are the US Total Stock Market ETF (VUN) and the S&P 500 ETF (VFV).  Both are NOT hedged and provide broad exposure to the US stock market and the US dollar. They are the cheapest ETFs of their kind and have extremely low management expense ratios (MER).  The MER for VUN is 0.15% while the MER for VFV is a category low of 0.08%.

Biotechnology & Health Care Stocks & ETFs Continue To Lead The Stock Market Higher

Biotechnology and health care stocks and ETFs continue to lead the market.  This is becoming a dominant theme within the broad technology sector.  It is likely that health care and biotechnology stocks continue to grow in relative market cap weight in the major US indices (i.e. NASDAQ 100 & S&P 500).

Year End Mid Term Election Year Rally Underway. Small & Mid Cap Stocks Leading.

The strong mid-term election year end rally is underway.  Small-cap (IWM) and mid-cap (MDY) ETFs have taken the lead.

Biotechnology ETFs post new 52 week highs

Public Investor Sentiment is Extremely Negative

Public market sentiment is extremely negative.  Fear is currently running higher than it did during the Euro Debt Crisis of 2011.  The difference then was that fear didn't reach similar levels in 2011 until all of the problems with the euro zone became apparent and the S&P 500 had corrected approximately 15-20%.  Fear is higher today with less downside movement in equities.  What's interesting is how negative public sentiment is when compared to investor sentiment.  Investor Intelligence reports somewhat bearish or neutral sentiment while public sentiment has become extremely negative, extremely fast.  This is generally good for the stock market.

(charts courtesy CNN Fear & Greed, Stockcharts.com)

How much is oil worth?

How much is oil worth?  In my opinion, much less that its current price.  As illustrated above, the price of oil does not have a definitive long term price trend.  Analysts will often use supply and demand data in order to forecast the price of oil as they do with gold and other commodities.  They do not, however, take into consideration how technological evolution not only affects oil exploration, but oil usage.  Is it reasonable to assume that the world will consume more oil in the future than it does today?  I think the price of oil is based on approximately 75% public psychology and 25% current fundamentals.  It is short sighted to suggest that over time, a better technology won't replace oil as a primary source of energy (ie. solar).  Oil, other commodities, bonds and real estate tend to go up in price when global stocks are not (i.e. during a secular bear market).  We're now in a secular bull market for global equities that probably began in 2012.  Expect most commodities (including oil) to fall in price.  Based its historical price, a barrel of oil is probably worth around $30.