NEW YORK (AP) – The U. S. economy is growing at a painfully slow pace. Greece still threatens the euro. Chinese stocks have just pulled out of a frightening free-fall. Big companies in the U. S. are struggling to boost profits.
You might think it’s been a rough year for investors, but it’s mostly been a smooth ride – and a profitable one.
Money is flowing into bonds issued by the riskiest of companies, home prices in some big U. S. cities are soaring, shares of technology companies are still near all-time highs – even after a drop this week – and auction houses are enjoying record sales of art. A Picasso painting sold at Christie’s for $179 million in May, the highest ever for an artwork at auction, prompting one dealer to exclaim, ‘I don’t really see an end to it.’
Neither do many on Wall Street. The so-called fear index, a figure measuring the odds of big swings in stock prices, is hovering near a multi-year low. The ranks of ‘short-only’ investors, who bet that stocks will drop, have thinned to near extinction. A traditional haven for spooked folks, gold, fell to $1,085 an ounce on Friday, down more than 40 percent in four years.
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner on July 26, 2015.
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