China, Japan Holdings of U.S. Treasury China’s share hits near 2-year low, Japan’s highest in 16 months. Image: Richard Leong

What the S&P 500 has Done in May the past 7 Years A difficult start, but May 2019 is far from over. Image: Ryan Detrick, LPL Financial LLC

Central Bank Balance Sheets vs. Global Equities Central banks do influence some asset prices, but correlation is not causation. Image: DoubleLine

Increased Productivity Boosts Profits Margins When a company increases productivity, it makes more products without increasing costs. Higher productivity can improve the company’s profit margin and total profits. During this business cycle, productivity has increased…

U.S. Stock Ownership Still Below Pre-Recession Levels Despite the strong performance of stocks since 2009, U.S. stock ownership remains lower than it was before the Great Recession or the Dotcom bubble. Image: Gallup

Real Estate Continues to Lead Stocks as Americans’ Choice for Best Long-Term Investment Americans think that real estate is the best investment vehicle compared to other investments, such as stocks, bonds or gold. Image: Gallup

More than 200 Years of U.S. Interest Rates in One Chart This long term chart covers more than two centuries of US interest rates (yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury). Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment…

S&P 500 Index – Number of 5% Corrections Per Year Since 1990, there has been an average of 3.3 separate 5% declines for the S&P 500 per year. In a late business cycle, volatility increases.…

The Progression of World GDP This chart shows the percentage of world GDP by major countries/regions and how China’s GDP has risen steadily over the past few decades. Image: Bank of America Merrill Lynch

91.2% Correlation Between Gold Price and U.S. National Debt According to the National Inflation Association, there’s 91.2% correlation between gold price and U.S. national debt. The U.S. government’s public debt is now more than $22…

Gold Has Crushed the S&P 500 So Far Since 2000 Gold has returned a great 345.30 percent, while the S&P 500 has returned 146.57 percent since 2000. Keep in mind that Gold has beaten the…