ZeroHedge often features some interesting articles that make you think. But the media site is relentlessly skeptical about the stock market. Below is a typical headline.
It goes to the point we’ve been making lately about fear-baiting narratives that investors would do well to ignore.
Below this alarmist headline is some recent U.S. data economic data that indisputably shows economic growth is accelerating and that a crash is nowhere in sight.
That means investors with well-diversified equity portfolios should be able to increase their wealth by staying the course and/or considering some of the top-rated small cap names identified in our accompanying story.
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Courtesy of Hedgeye
Luckily in the world of data, the story is very different (from the ZeroHedge headline).
Consider some of the key data points we’ve received this week:
- October’s U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI came in at 60.8, which was the 17th month of growth and solidly in expansion territory (despite massive supply chain issues!).
- The October U.S. Services PMI was an absolute blow out coming in at 66.7, which was a massive acceleration from September and an all-time high. Within this business activity and new orders were even higher at 69.8 and 69.7, respectively.
- The ADP jobs report (not our preferred measure of employment but a measure nonetheless) showed the economy added 571,000, which was an acceleration from September and the highest level since June.
- With more than 2/3s of the SP500 having reported, revenue is up near 19% Y/Y and earnings are up near 40% Y/Y.
- Michigan Consumer Confidence ticked up +0.3 points September to October to +71.7.
- Housing has also turned the corner from the summer with U.S. monthly mortgage applications accelerating to +7.5% from their August lows.
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Related stories: Bear Market Warning Signs? Please. Follow the Data Not Mainstream Financial Media Narratives.