There have been many discussions on whether bonds, particularly U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, will continue to provide diversification a...

Here is an update to my previous posts on Fastenal, a wholesale distributor of industrial and construction supplies. It is only one compa...

Drought conditions continue to worsen across much of the U.S. with 44% of land area now at some level of drought. If the abnormally dry c...

Coffee prices have been volatile in the last year, with the contract for December 2020 futures exceeding $1.45 in late 2019 and dropping ...

Volatility of the NASDAQ-100 spiked in the spring and quickly fell as stocks rebounded. However, volatility (orange line) remained elevat...

Although U.S. crude oil production dropped dramatically from highs early this year, crude stocks continue at levels above seasonal averag...

The high yield spread (red line) has fallen from March highs to near its 10-year average of 4.96%. The spread peaked this year on March 2...

Growth stocks have outperformed value on a trailing 12-month basis by the largest differential since the dot-com bubble. The return of th...

Hurricane Laura Cat 4 as it approaches coast near Texas/Louisiana border. From an energy infrastructure perspective, the likely path will...

Drought conditions persist in much of western U.S. Besides the headlines coming out of California, some other key areas are experiencing ...

Equities continue to outperform commodities. During the last decade commodities have not only lagged stocks but have absolute declines in...

There has been a significant rebound in used car prices from the lows in April. According to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, prices...

Gold volatility, as measured by the gold etf, has come off of highs but still elevated compared with recent history (black line). Vol als...

There has been recent commentary on the drop in the U.S. Dollar. Typically, moves in the dollar are measured by an index of developed cou...

Hedge fund performance this year has varied depending on the type of strategy. With the S&P 500 making a round trip this year and now rou...

Another big day for tech stocks with the NASDAQ 100 up 2.9%. There have been some comparisons with the dot-com period. The top panel of t...

Fastenal's June daily sales rose 9.5% yoy down from May's 14.8% pace. Fasteners, the largest segment, fell 11.4% in June vs. a 15.3% drop...

Precious metals holdings in ETFs have increased in 2020. Gold ETFs currently hold 104.2 million ounces of gold, an increase of 25.7% from...

An extraordinary quarter for equities. The S&P 500 increased 20% for the quarter, the best performance since 2011. With tech stocks conti...

It's only one company but Fastenal sells products to a wide range of industrial customers and provides a glimpse into production activity...