The 12 Charts of 2016 ...JP Morgan

I am winding down 2016 thinking about 2017 and beyond of course. I figured a good way to think about 2017 is to look at the charts that define 2016.

I see as many charts as anyone. I am either studying them or seeing them pass me by on Stocktwits.

I don’t trade off charts but I invest off of them. I look at weekly and monthly charts for that reason. The longer timeframe smoothes things for pattern recognition (at least for me). I do look at thousands of them to make me comfortable with just a few big investing ideas.

This JP Morgan chart is important for many reasons…

They spend more on legal than most nations have GDP.

There are more Chase branches in Phoenix than there are any banks in Argentina and Venezuela put together.

People feel better seeing banks on every corner. Eventually the millennials may prove otherwise.

As much as I hate the banks we saved and how they had to be saved, having no banks is hell. I saw what a closed economy looks like in Argentina (not good) and so for those rooting for chaos in 2008 and beyond are just silly and dangerous.

While this is just ONE chart …I’m less nervous in a world with bank stocks rising than declining. All the bank and brokerage stocks look the same.

I won’t make any bold predictions about stock market crashes or bear markets until JP Morgan really slows down.

One down … 11 more to go.