Companies repurchase shares for a variety of reasons. Commonly shares are bought back because the stock price is viewed as undervalued or that no better investment opportunities exist for the company’s cash.

Why do companies do stock splits if there is no change in value? A lower share price is more accessible to a broader base of investors and could increase liquidity by having more market participants able to buy and sell the stock. Also, there’s a psychological component.

Why is the labor participation rate in decline? We are getting old (not ugly). The Baby Boomer generation is exiting the workforce faster than younger workers are entering the workforce.

Apple’s increase in value alone is larger than 444 of the 500 companies within the S&P 500. The 10th largest publicly traded company in the U.S. is Procter and Gamble (P&G); they employ 97,000 people and have been in business for over 180 years.

A well-diversified portfolio is not reliant on any single asset class or factor for success. Diversification can seem sleepy at times, however, when markets diverge, the benefits sometimes shine.

If you have higher velocity and high money supply, now you can get to that equation of too much money chasing too few assets.

With expectations set, markets will react to actual earnings vs. what was expected, as well as forward guidance. Forward guidance announcements provided by companies can impact stock prices and even offset a good (or bad) actual results figure.