Pump Relief

Pump Relief

  This week’s chart delivers some great news for drivers and shoppers alike: gas prices are dropping! According to data from the American Automobile Association, the national average price of regular unleaded gasoline has dipped to nearly $3 per gallon, the...
Peak Confidence

Peak Confidence

  Americans are feeling confident in the stock market—and then some.  As this week’s featured chart above shows, 56% of U.S. consumers now believe stock prices will rise in the next year, according to the Conference Board.  This surge in optimism is the highest...
Running with the Bulls

Running with the Bulls

  The stock market is in a “bull market.”  A bull market, for those unfamiliar with the term, is defined as a sustained period of stock market gains where prices rise by 20% or more from a recent low. One question we often hear is: how long do bull markets...
Worth the Risk?

Worth the Risk?

  Is the stock market still worth the risk? This week’s chart paints a surprising picture. It measures something called the equity risk premium—the extra return investors expect from stocks compared to the safer 10-year U.S. Treasury bond. It’s shown as the...
Vol Drop

Vol Drop

  The big news this week, of course, was the election.  As always, the uncertainty it brought stirred things up in the financial markets, a trend we can see clearly in this week’s featured chart. At the top of the chart, we have the S&P 500 stock index, and...
America’s Edge

America’s Edge

  It’s perhaps no surprise to investors that America’s stock market has dominated the rest of the developed world in recent years.  But have you ever wondered why U.S. stocks have outshined? This week’s chart gives a big clue: economic strength.  When the U.S....