All hat, no cows

Credit Strategist Lewitt: High-Flying Tech Stocks Aren't Helping Economy

“The stock market values companies fueling the use of social media and advertising at exorbitant levels,” Lewitt said in the December issue of his Credit Strategist newsletter. “But while the profits and stocks of companies like Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon.com and Microsoft are skyrocketing, their businesses do not appear to be moving the needle on growth …. These companies are not focused on activities that enhance the productive capacity of the economy.”

Michael Lewitt

Lewitt cites an analysis by Swiss investment bank UBS that pointed out how commodities companies like oil and gas drillers have had the most positive effect on U.S. gross domestic product this year. Oil prices this year recovered from a 13-year low, giving energy producers more incentive to drill. Excluding the energy industry, U.S. economic growth actually slowed to 1 percent this year from 2.6 percent in 2015, according to UBS.