In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump’s two main issues were immigration and unfair trade practices. Immigration has continued to be a hot issue since President Trump was inaugurated in January of 2017. The Perdue-Cotton bill arguing on behalf of favoring skilled workers as immigrants led the news for a while.

In 2007 crude oil began the year priced at $60 per barrel. By July 11, 2008, it rose to $145.66, which was a nearly 150% increase, and a 31.6% increase in a little more than half a year. Southwest Airlines (LUV) was the only airline that hedged its largest variable cost. Southwest was paying $30 per barrel less than most of its competitors. In a little over five months later, on Dec. 26, WTI had dropped all the way down to $32.34. That’s a 77.8% decrease.

One way to prevent losses in a deteriorating position is the use of stop-loss orders. A stop-loss order is activated when a stock, ETF or futures contract reaches a certain price point. Let’s use the example of Facebook. On the afternoon of Jan. 4, 2018, a purchase of FB is made at $185. After rising above $188 a stop is placed to sell FB at $184 (just below the previous high close) on Jan. 11. This means that at $184 the stop becomes a market sell order and the long position is liquidated.

With volatility over the last two years at record lows traders have been itching to trade something that really moves. Bitcoin definitely fits that description. On the first day of 2017 bitcoin traded above $1,000 for the first time since January of 2014. The highest price for bitcoin at the time was 1,216.70 in 2013.

With volatility over the last two years at record lows traders have been itching to trade something that really moves. Bitcoin definitely fits that description. On the first day of 2017 bitcoin traded above $1,000 for the first time since January of 2014. The highest price for bitcoin at the time was 1,216.70 in 2013. By June 5, 2017, the price more than doubled to 2,874.00. On Nov. 12 it was trading at $5,426.

From its early 2012 high until October of 2015 McDonald’s stock remained basically flat. In that same period the S&P 500 gained roughly 50%. MCD was clearly languishing. There was talk that MCD’s star had faded (see “Breakfast rally," below).

In October of 2015, MCD began serving breakfast all day. MCD then had a breakout during the next eight months, closing at $131.60 on May 10, 2016. MCD was obviously out of its rut. By Oct. 20, 2016 MCD corrected to $110.57, and has been a moonshot ever since, closing at $156.58 on July 12, 2017. That’s a 41% gain in less than 10 months.