So far for 2016, the U.S. stock market is down by close to 5%....which so far (through today) represents the worst start of the investing year in 84 years. To be frank, with all of the geopolitical concerns such as
- unrest in the Middle East between Iran/Saudi Arabia
- the continued struggle to fight ISIS
- North Korea testing a Hydrogen bond today
- the steep decline in the price of oil (which signals a global economic slowdown)
- the Chinese economy is showing signs of slowing
- the recent rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve
- a soft retail christmas season
I am extremely uncertain as to what direction the markets will head over the short term. As of the past 3 days, I have yet to add to any of my existing stock or mutual fund investments as I don't want to "catch a falling knife" and I'm waiting to see if stock prices will drop lower before I begin to buy stocks that are "on sale".
When I do in fact start to buy into the market and add to my mutual fund investments, I am going to add to my current international mutual funds and my large cap and small cap U.S. funds (I'm avoiding mid caps at this moment). I'm doing some research on what bonds I can add to portfolios but have yet to find any attractive ones.
I expect at some point over the next several days or early next week we will see a bounce (move up) in the markets but as I said I am uncertain as to when that will be. I am however looking forward to putting some of the cash I have sitting on the sidelines to work.
