Reuters / Lucas Jackson
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the first edition of Investing Insider, the new markets and investing newsletter for Business Insider. I'm Joe Ciolli, the senior investing editor here at BI, helming a team of ferocious reporters keen on giving you all the information you need to crush the market.
This past week, as most of the world was preoccupied with Elon Musk's latest legal saga and Jeff Bezos' unprecedented divorce settlement, the stock market chugged higher. It's now back within 1.5% of a record high, and it's as if the great Christmas Eve meltdown never happened.
And while that may seem like great news for anyone with money in market, Wall Street is divided over what the future holds.
On one hand, you have a mostly bullish Bank of America advising clients how to keep making money even as a trusty investing technique fades. There's also Morgan Stanley, which thinks traders can avoid taking big damage should a recession hit - so long as they follow a few key recommendations.
Other firms are decidedly less optimistic. Some of the top analysts at JPMorgan are sounding the alarm on shrinking liquidity, and the negative impact it could have on future patches of market turbulence. Meanwhile, the top brass at Leuthold Group is worried about the overlooked negative impact of tanking consumer confidence.
If your head is spinning, consider checking out this post, which highlights the only four drivers an investor needs to understand to navigate the market going forward.
The Investing team at Business Insider has also been busy speaking to some of the industry's biggest and most influential names:
This stock picker is crushing 95% of his peers investing mostly in companies you haven't heard of. Here are his secrets for uncovering those hidden gems.
Gerry Frigon, the lead manager of the Taylor Frigon Core Growth Fund, shares his unique approach to filling out a stock portfolio - one that leads to his buying lots of nontraditional names.
For context, Frigon's fund has soared 22% over the past year, putting it in the 95th percentile relative to competitors.
Frigon explained to Business Insider how a venture partnership he started more than 10 years ago informs his unique investing decisions. He also elaborated on what exact attributes he looks for in a stock.
"There are a lot of companies under most people's radars that are very interesting," Frigon said. "In some cases, their technology may have been around for a while but hadn't made it to prime time - it wasn't the right time for their technology to flourish. But some of the changes we see in the industry or the economy can bring these companies to the forefront."
America's No. 1-ranked wealth manager for the ultrarich breaks down the 3 mistakes every millennial investor should avoid - and what they should do instead
Forbes has ranked Jeff Erdmann of Merrill Lynch's private banking and investment group as the nation's best wealth manager for three years in a row.
In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Erdmann said millennials and other new investors should avoid three common, basic mistakes.
Erdmann's group manages $10.5 billion in assets for wealthy families. He also told Business Insider his basic method for getting young investors into the market.
The chief of Wells Fargo's $1.9 trillion investing business revealed a bold strategy he's recommending to clients - and it goes against everything traders have known for the past 10 years
Darrell Cronk - the chief investment officer of Wells Fargo's $1.9 trillion wealth and investment management unit - says his firm is "playing defense" in the bond market today and telling investors to move into higher-quality bonds with shorter terms.
His recommendation comes even though investors are worried about the immediate health of the economy, which recently led to a dip in bold yields that caused an inversion in the yield curve.
Other good stories from the investing realm:
- Credit Suisse studied 20 years of Warren Buffett's acquisitions to replicate his approach - and it's identified 12 stocks you should buy right now
- A political threat that US investors rarely confront is now a force to be reckoned with - and JPMorgan warns it's powerful enough to tank the global economy
- Amazon's plan to launch thousands of satellites is accelerating a new space race - and one expert knows how everyday investors can profit from the mania right now
- The global space race is heating up, and the industry is expected to reach $1 trillion. Here's how UBS says you can start investing in that growth right now.