Portfolio Review 4Q 2020

Portfolio Review 4Q 2020

Few will regret the passing of Anno Domino 2020, though investors per se for the most part did well. (This letter focuses on investments, without any callousness to other considerations.) The U.S. stock indices closed at highs; global equity indices, gold, bonds, real estate, all closed at or near highs. This apparent dichotomy between the economy, slammed by restrictions imposed as a response to covid, and markets is explained (as we have before) quite simply: when central banks around the world create excess credit, that new “money” has to go somewhere, and it has gone, for the most part into stocks and other investments. The flood of new money will, we suspect, see the rising consumer prices next year that were largely lacking this past year. With the changes expected in 2021, including a revitalized economy due to covid vaccines (though expectations may be overly-optimistic, at least in the short term), and a new administration with its own spending priorities, the Federal Reserve’s accommodation of unfunded spending will continue; we see no change there. That all augers well for the stock market and particularly for gold. Finish reading here: Portfolio Review 2020 4Q