Topic: How To Invest

What is Pat’s commentary for the week of September 15, 2020

Article Excerpt

These days, many investors find they have lots of things to keep them awake at night. The sharp rise in stocks since March seems excessive to some. Stock prices are back up to their old highs, even though earnings remain well below past peaks. Many investors feel we are in a “frothy” market where stocks run wild. This started with the tech favourites (Alphabet, Tesla, Facebook, Apple and so on). Now it also includes a lot of stocks that are little beyond the start-up stage and have not yet established a significant history of revenues, let alone earnings. Meanwhile, soaring government budget deficits raise fears about inflation and rising taxes. Governments ordered a lockdown on large parts of the economy to curb COVID-19. This brought on an instant recession, which persists, even though governments began lifting lockdown measures months ago. Now some investors fear the imposition of new lockdowns could hobble the economy all the more. This could make current stock prices…