Déjà vu?
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
At this point, the S&P 500 is up over 200% from its March 2009 low.
This bull market has lasted 68 months, which seems like a long time ... until you compare it to the length and strength of other bull runs.
This chart shows the history of Bull and Bear Markets in the U.S.
via @jerrykerns.
Hope you are having a Happy New Year!
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
The world has over 7 billion people.
How can we get a sense of what it means ... and who we are?
One way is by statistically representing the world population as 100 people. That way, complex issues become more comprehensible and help us get a clearer look at the big picture.
So, what would the world look like if it were represented by just 100 people?
The infographic below covers a broad range of statistics, including: gender, age, race and religion.
via Washington Post.
To see a video about this, click here.
A different look at the data is here.
You can find the original source of the data here.
I visited the trading floor of the CME this week with Bobby Schwartz.
Notice his badge number. He used to be one of the largest volume traders on the exchange.
While there, Bobby quickly slipped into his old rhythm, and I had a chance to experience his old persona. He showed me the hand signals he used on the floor. It was complex, fast-moving, and cool to see.
On one hand, the mastery was undeniable. On the other hand, it's a reminder how fast things change. It doesn't matter how good you are, or what your edge was ... times change, markets change, and so does what a trader must do to make money consistently.
Bobby is a great example of that. He now runs one of the largest IBs and has shown, many times, that adapting quickly is the way to survive - and thrive.
No matter how you look at it, big stock market sell-offs happen regularly.
For example, we've seen two violent sell-offs in the second half of 2014. The first came when the S&P 500 quickly tumbled 9.8% from its then all-time high of 2,019 on Sept. 19 to as low as 1,820 on Oct. 15. The second came when the S&P plunged 5.1% from 2,079 ion Dec. 5 to 1,972 on Dec. 16.
Buy and Hold investors must stomach significant drawdowns to get their returns — even in 'good' years.
This chart shows S&P 500 intra-year declines compared with calendar year returns. The bars represent year-end returns since 1980, while the purple dots mark each year's market low.
Business Insider via JP Morgan Asset Management.
Basically, you have to understand that 10-15% pull-backs are normal (perhaps even healthy) for the market.
For reference, here are market correction averages and their historic frequency. Since 1900, we've seen:
Importantly, these big sell-offs often occur during years when the markets head higher.
Despite average intra-year drops of 14.2%, annual returns have been positive in 26 of 34 years.
Bottom line: Sell-Offs happen. And sometimes they're big ... But they're normal. So, stay calm and carry on.
Best wishes for a Happy New Year!
The president understood that he was broke a cardinal presidential rule. "Here’s the general rule," Obama explained: "You don’t put stuff on your head if you’re president. That’s politics 101. You never look good wearing something on your head."
Chief White House photographer Pete Souza posted a photo to Instagram showing the president donning a tiara alongside a group of Girl Scouts from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Some things you find on the internet actually happened.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye. Hope you find something interesting.
The shape of the world's demography is changing.
The traditional way of visualizing and explaining the age structure of a society has been a pyramid.
If you draw a chart with each age group represented by a bar, and each bar ranged one above the other—youngest at the bottom, oldest at the top—a pyramid is the shape you would get.
This was true because, with shorter lifespans and higher mortality rates, there were always more young people than old people.
Now the shape of the global population is changing.
Between 1970 and 2015 the dominating influence on the global population was the fertility rate (the number of children a woman would typically bear during her lifetime). It fell dramatically over the period, meaning that the world shifted from having larger to smaller families.
Between 2015 and 2060 the biggest influence upon the population will be aging. Fertility rates are slowing, and now almost everyone is living longer than their parents—dramatically so in developing countries.
The result will be a larger, and growing, older population. This will drive massive infrastructure projects and business opportunities.
via The Economist.
Read the full article from The World In 2015.
How the Average Hours Worked Per Week Decreased in the the Last 150 Years
The average human now lives about 75 years.
We spend about a third of that time sleeping ... a number that probably hasn't changed much across human history.
What has changed is what we do with the remaining time.
As the following chart shows, over the past 150 years, there has been a profound shift in what we do with our waking hours.
Our World in Data.
In 1870, employed persons worked close to 3,000 hours per year ... which is roughly 10 hours per day, 6 days a week, 300 days a year. That number has almost halved for the most productive countries.
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