Topley’s Top Ten – December 9, 2019

Author

Matt Topley
December 09, 2019

1.All-Time Highs?  Mostly Large Cap Growth Equities.

SPDR FUNDS

2.Individual Investors Continue to Flee Stock Market…Investors Pulled $135Billion From U.S. Stocks in 2019.

WSJ–Michael Wursthorn

TheS&P 500 is having its best run in six years, but individual investors arefleeing stock funds at the fastest pace in decades.

Thatis potentially a good sign for the long-running bull market.

Investors havepulled $135.5 billion from U.S. stock-focused mutual funds and exchange-tradedfunds so far this year, the biggest withdrawals on record, according to dataprovider Refinitiv Lipper, which tracked the data going back to 1992.

Investors Bail on Stock Market Rally, Fleeing Funds at RecordPace

Inwhat may be the best year for stocks since 2013, investors have exited indroves

3.Retail Selling Stocks….And Wall Street Strategists Least Bullish in 15 Years.  Not the Traditional Combo at Market Tops.

Wall Street strategists are giving the least optimistic annualoutlook in 15 years, with an average call among 17 estimates being for theS&P 500 to end next year at 3,280. As of Friday’s close, that represents a 4.3% expectedincrease, the smallest for any year since 2004.

Central Bank Liquidity FirehoseTurns Wall Street Most Pessimistic In 15 Yearsby Tyler Durden

4.U.S. Citizens Have $6Trillion in “Tappable” Mortgage Equity

From TheDaily Shot

5.First Pure Play E-Sports Team IPO

Barrons

Monday will bring an initial public offering that might actuallyexcite the kids. That’s when Denmark-based Astralis Group will become the firstpure-play e-sports team to go public, with a ticker of ASTRGRP. If that meansnothing to you, consult your nearest 20-something.

The World’s First IPO for aCompetitive Videogame Team Is Monday. It’ll Be a Crucial Test for E-Sports. By Connor Smith

6.Non-Supervisory Wage Growth Hits 3.7% Previous history has topped out at 4%

5 year history of wage growth

7.Falling American SAT Scores.

State by State Scores…Not the Big Spreads You Would Expect

8.PetIndustry $72 Billion …But Only 3% of Pets Have Insurance.

Cutepuppies. Kittens. Instagram dogs. Pet supplements, a smart cat litter box andspecialty veterinary practices. Americans are spending more and more on theirpets. U.S. pet spending hit $72 billion in 2018, an increase of more than $3billion from the prior year. And with pet ownership on the rise, the industrycould grow into an even bigger business. Here’s how America’s love for petsturned into big business.

8.Pet Industry $72 Billion …But Only 3% of Pets Have Insurance.

Cutepuppies. Kittens. Instagram dogs. Pet supplements, a smart cat litter box andspecialty veterinary practices. Americans are spending more and more on theirpets. U.S. pet spending hit $72 billion in 2018, an increase of more than $3billion from the prior year. And with pet ownership on the rise, the industrycould grow into an even bigger business. Here’s how America’s love for petsturned into big business.

The Biggest Mistake 99 Percent of All Pet Owners Make

9.FDA Approves a Record Amount of Drugs 2018

The past year proved to be abig one for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) andthe approval of novel drugs.

Over the course of 2018, theFDA approved 59 different novel drugs thatrange for the treatment of various cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD), traveler’s diarrhea, migraine headaches and more. Over the past190 years, the FDA has averaged an approval of 33 novel drugs each year, with2018 having the highest number. In 2017, the FDA approved 46 novel drugs, butonly 22 in 2016.

The majority of the novel drugs approved in2018, 34, were for rare or orphan diseases.

FDA Approves Record-Breaking 59 Novel Drugsin 2018–ByAlex Keown

U.S. Healthcare Spending2018-$3.6 Trillion.

US health care spendingincreased 4.6 percent to reach $3.6 trillion in 2018, a faster growthrate than the rate of 4.2 percent in 2017 but the same rate as in 2016.The share of the economy devoted to health care spending declined to17.7 percent in 2018, compared to 17.9 percent in 2017. The0.4-percentage-point acceleration in overall growth in 2018 was driven byfaster growth in both private health insurance and Medicare, which wereinfluenced by the reinstatement of the health insurance tax. For personalhealth care spending (which accounted for 84 percent of national healthcare spending), growth in 2018 remained unchanged from 2017 at4.1 percent. The total number of uninsured people increased by 1.0 millionfor the second year in a row, to reach 30.7 million in 2018.

10. A sense of purpose could prolong your life

The meaning of life is a question that hasplagued philosophers for millennia, and there is no single correct answer. Butincreasingly, scientists are finding that having a sense of purpose, whateveryours may be, is key to well-being.

Now, a studypublished on May 24 in JAMA Current Open adds to the growing bodyof knowledge on the link between health and a driving force, finding thatpurposefulness is tied to longer lives. Researchers from the University ofMichigan School of Public Health analyzed data from nearly7,000 individuals over 50 years old and concluded that “strongerpurpose in life was associated with decreased mortality.” They believe that“purposeful living may have health benefits.”

The new researchrelied on data from individuals who enrolled in the American Health andRetirement Study (HRS)—longterm research that looks at a cross-section ofsubjects over time. The original research measured participants’ psychologicalwell-being in 2006, their physical health and, subsequently, causes of death by2010. The new analysis found that those whose psychological questionnairesreflected a lack of purpose were more likely to die than those who had “aself-organizing life aim that stimulates goals.”

In fact, peoplewithout a purpose were more than twice as likely to die than those with an aimand goals. Purpose proved to be more indicative of longevity than gender, race,or education levels, and more important for decreasing risk of death thandrinking, smoking, or exercising regularly.

Notably, theresearch indicates that any purpose is better than none, as the reason peoplefelt purposeful didn’t figure into the analysis. So it doesn’t seem to matterwhat it is that drives an individual, whether it’s a passion for growingpeonies, say, or wanting to see their children develop, or loving the work theydo. The important thing is simply having something that makes them excitedabout life and drives them.

But those who feelno sense of purpose now shouldn’t despair because that drive can be cultivated,as the study notes. “There are a number of interventions that have been developedwith the goal of improving life purpose,” the researchers write. They point toprevious analyses that have found volunteering, well-being therapy, meditation,and mindfulness training have all beenshown to cultivate a greater sense of purpose, improve quality of life,and influence physical health.

Future work shouldexamine when such interventions are appropriate in people diagnosed with diseasesand, the researchers argue, purposefulness training could be integrated intotreatment approaches. They note that their conclusions are consistent with workdone in Japan measuring the concept of ikigai, which is defined as “something to live for, the joyand goal of living” and has been associated with survival.

Although there has been work done onpurpose and longevity before, the latest findings surprised even theresearchers who devised this latest study. Celeste Leigh Pearce, an associateprofessor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and a co-author of thepaper, tells NPR, “I approached this with a veryskeptical eye. I just find it so convincing that I’m developing a wholeresearch program around it.”