Fireworks! The New Year has certainly started out with fireworks this year! Although fireworks are fun to watch on New Year's Eve, most of us would have preferred they not continue on Wall Street the following week. In a moment we will consider how we believe 2016 will play out after this unpleasant start, but first let's look at how we did in 2015. 2015 We believe most investors found 2015 to be a frustrating experience, with very little to show for all the effort. Since we are not allowed to publish our results (yet), let's just say that we are generally very pleased with our performance this year. The Good OIL PRICES. The obvious place to start is where we got it right -- oil prices and i
In the November edition of the Crouch Connection, I mentioned four factors that were concerning me and how they might affect the markets: The looming Fed rate hike. The possibility of an even stronger Dollar. Lower oil prices. Emerging markets turmoil. In addition, there are several issues that I monitor that could be a problem for our economy if they develop further, but at the time of last month's writing I did not believe they were currently causing problems. That changed last week. Junk Bond Selloff Last week investors with Third Avenue Management learned that they would not be allowed to withdraw cash for several weeks or months due to the sheer volume of redemption requests and lack o
