Displaying items by tag: volatility

Inflation: the omnipresent bugaboo. As it continues to hang around a 40 year high in the U.S., to offset unabated volatility In the traditional stock market, many investors are plumbing for alternative strategies, according to glovenewswire.com as sourced from yieldstreet.

Now, fortuitously, in recent years. diversity and accessibility has evolved into the name of the game in alternative investment options. Yieldstreet, among other online investment platforms, have significant ratcheted up the ease with which investors can alter direction and sprinkle critical diversification into the portfolios, the site continued. 

And there’s this: given the gaggle of strategies from which to select, all investors need do is home in on the alternative investment , such as P2P Lending, real estate or crypto, best sutured to for their specific investing style and level of risk.

So, if the stock market isn’t your cup of tea, according to investables-blog.webflow.io, seven best investment alternatives include: 

• Gold
• Real estate
• Cryptocurrency
• Art
• Wine & Liquor
• NFTs
• Watches

In the event inflation extends beyond 3%, the site added, there’s as much as a 32% uptick in art sales.  When conditions hit the skids in traditional finances, investors head to the best alternative investments. That, most of the time? Bingo. Art.

In the aftermath of what had been a sweet buzz of a ride, stocks are embroiled in another unwelcome turn, according to ally.com. Last week, of course, the S&P 500, bless it, threw in the towel of what had been a four-week run. This week? You go it; the setback continues.  

So, what’s up with that? Well, let’s count the uncertainties. Corporate earnings season’s winding down. Summer? Vaulting into the rear view mirror. And the news cycle will slow to a trickle. It all spells a vacuum in solid direction which, right again, puts air under the likelihood of volatility, the site continued.

In fact, taking, well, stock, of the interest rate trend lines over this  summer, they’re more rocky than stable, according to money.usnews.com. The swings in the average 30 year fixed rates have been madcap, percolating and descending by as much as a quarter point per seek following a mid June peak to 5.81%.

The 30-year fixed rate went back up to well over 5% this week -- a reminder that recent volatility remains persistent, said Sam Khater, vice president, chief economist and head of Freddie Mac’s Economic and Housing Research division. “Although rates continue to fluctuate, recent data suggest that the housing market is stabilizing as it transitions from the surge of activity during the pandemic to a more balanced market.” 

With most stocks falling yesterday, the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), also known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, jumped 15.5% to close the day at 23.80. This was the index’s highest closing level in almost three weeks. This resulted in volatility-related ETFs seeing large jumps in performance. For instance, the ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (VIXY) rose 6.5% on the day, while the leveraged ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (UVXY) jumped 9.7%. The VIX had previously been on a downturn since the market bottomed in June, but with anxiety beginning to hit investors once again, volatility is returning. The jump in the VIX can be attributed to investors anticipating another round of interest hikes in September. Plus, last Thursday’s month-end options expirations likely contributed to a resurgence in volatility. 

Finsum: Month-end option expirations and concerns over additional rate hikes drove the VIX higher yesterday, resulting in strong returns for volatility ETFs.

Stocks had one of their worst days in months as the market fell off 2% and sent volatility measures such as the VIX spiking. Wallstreet’s ‘fear gauge’ was up nearly 4% as a result. This all happens as the dollar is reaching very strong levels and almost parodies the euro. While that might be great for those on a summer vacation in the Mediterranean, it's bad news for investors, because it reflects a more fed tightening, rising treasury rates, and inflation. Investors are concerned about rising volatility once again after it felt like it was behind them. With healthy job numbers and inflation trying to turn a corner, things looked bright and the market felt it, but the reality of a one-off good inflation report is setting in.

Finsum: Advisors need strategies for resilience vs inflation and excess volatility because its persistence seems strong.

Sure tech investors have had their share of ups and downs, but they have been largely insulated from the market’s bigger losses but things could change. The underlying trends in the technology sector are looking as bad as they have in a long time. There is severe weakness in consumer-oriented hardware products. Moreover, as supply chains relax these prices could fall further. Additionally, sub-sectors such as enterprise tech spending are starting to deteriorate. The weakening demand is beginning to show at the company level as earnings season shows signs of weakness in technology. While there have been outliers such as Cisco, the market might not be ready for widespread tech deterioration.

Finsum: The other huge problem is rising interest rates and rampant inflation which lower the value of future earnings and make growth stocks less attractive.