I have written about excessive indebtedness many times in these Dividend Cafe pages, including a piece nearly two years ago that I think has held up quite well.  Lately I have written about Japanification, which is not quite the same topic (though there is certainly heavy overlap).

I have long believed in treating the disease, not the symptoms, and I didn't even go to medical school (in fact, if I had, it seems these days I'd be less likely to believe that).  That may be an overused cliche, but it has utility when it comes to how we think about our personal lives, our health, our finances, and so many other things.  And when it comes to the issue of Japanification I think the overall subject will be served to look with more granularity at the nature of the excessive debt to which I refer.

This is a seriously action-packed Dividend Cafe, and if you do not agree after reading it you are entitled to a full refund of your subscription price.

Let's jump in to the Dividend Cafe ...

Blog post here: https://bahnsen.co/3KMCDrK

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Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/3ZCSvkX

So the market followed its robust January returns with a -4% drop in the Dow for February and a -2.5% drop in the S&P 500, and the bond market dropped -2.7% on the month (though almost every index we track across stock and bond markets was still positive on the year through February, just much less so than previously). A few comments on today’s action here

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Blog post here: https://bahnsen.co/3KW53PY

ASK DAVID

~ Luke L.

I think one of the major tenets of Japanification is “low/slow/no growth,” and therefore, an obvious antidote (tautologically) is “growth.” I think the testimony of history is a clear and particularly recent experience that in a period of low capital expenditures, which are needed to improve productivity, which is needed to generate growth, removing disincentives to such productive investment is key. Forcing businesses to make large (and risky) investments NOW, but only to deduct that expense over time, is a disincentive. Immediate cash expensing incentivizes capex, which drives productivity, which drives growth.

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This is Trevor Cummings filling in for David Bahsen as he is traveling back to our New York office today. First and foremost, I want to encourage you to check out David’s Dividend Cafe published on Friday. David covered a myriad of topics in a potpourri fashion, and all of these tidbits are what bubble up from actual clients and readers’ questions. Having attended countless number of David’s speaking engagements, the concluding Q&A is always my favorite; the Dividend Cafe this week reminds me a lot of one of those Q&A sessions.

Alright, without further ado, let’s jump right into what was happening in Markets today as we close out the month of February.

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Well, I am back from my family’s little jaunt through the Bahamian Seas and am grateful to Brian Szytel for filling in with the DC Today for a few days last week. I hope you will find today’s old-school long-form DC Today informative. I will bring you the DC Today from New York on Wednesday and Thursday this week, as well as Dividend Cafe on Friday. Trevor will handle DC Today duties tomorrow as I fly after the market close to the world’s greatest city.

Blog post here: https://bahnsen.co/3ksS6me

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As I am out of the country these last few days with my family on a brief trip as the kids enjoy a week out of school, returning today, I am doing this week’s Dividend Cafe “old school” – which is to say, jumping around topic to topic and answering a handful of questions along the way. I love the “single topic” Dividend Cafe writings each week, but every now and then, it is fun to mix it up a little, especially from a top-secret overseas destination!

Let’s jump into the Dividend Cafe …

Brian Szytel here with you this up day in markets albeit in a choppy 500 point trading range of a session this holiday shortened week. I have some important updated economic numbers, along with comments on currency and real estate you will want to be sure to check out.

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Coming off the worst day of the year yesterday we get some market recovery and a little volatility relief with rates coming off yesterdays highs. Today is a more Fed heavy podcast with meeting minutes released which I discuss along with some economic takeaways on the day

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Today's Post - https://bahnsen.co/3XR3bLi

Good afternoon, Brian Szytel here with you today, helping you navigate in a sea of red ink in today’s trading day. A volatile day with the VIX up big, with much of the narrative revolving around interest rates moving higher across the spectrum, along with mixed earnings and economic data and all of which I fully unpack in today’s video podcast

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Today's Link - https://bahnsen.co/3IxtjXf

Since the new calendar year began just about six weeks ago oil prices are basically flat, having started right around $80/barrel and still sitting now right around the same level.  The energy sector indices are all up on the year, somewhere around +1%, so nowhere near the level, the market is up year-to-date, but up nicely nonetheless.  It's not been a rally mode, but it's not been a sell-off, either.

Yet there is a lot going on under the surface.  One can be forgiven for being suspicious of the idea that both the commodity side and public equity side can stay flattish and benignly boring for long.

My goal in this week's Dividend Cafe is to update our macro perspective on the energy sector and offer some correct practical suggestions around investing in it.  It's a little economic, a little political, a little global, and a lot of fun.  But you knew that already ...  So let's jump into the Dividend Cafe!

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