“All the candy corn that was ever made was made in 1911.” Lewis Black
These are broad areas that have been getting stronger
- Sugar
- Software
- Cyber Security
- S. T-Bills
These are broad areas that have been getting weaker
- Solar Energy
- Lithium
- Airlines
- Utilities
Source: Dorsey Wright and Assoc./Thomson Reuters
(See complete List by clicking here:Monthly Trends)
It has been an interesting couple of months. In September we saw the Fed warn about heightened inflation risk. This helped interest rates on the 10 year U.S. Treasury increase from 4.09% to 4.57% and further moving up to 5.0%, so far in October. This rapid movement in bond yields has had a dramatic impact on the stock market. Basically, financial markets moved from an area of calm to an area of volatility. This has definitely garnered some attention. Another item that has garnered some attention has been the area of cyber security, which I have been watching for a number of years.
As you can see cyber security companies have risen to the list of “getting stronger.” This is one of the first times I have seen this industry rise up the ranks of strength. Of course, it got my curiosity going and I started doing some research in this area…looking at companies along with important “things to know.”
One of the important things to know about is passwords. We use them every day, but I found an article from the World Economic Forum (1) on password strength. This was pretty intriguing. They lined out how strong certain passwords are by how long it takes a bad actor (hacker) to figure them out. Here are some of the results based on password length and complexity:
6 characters – 5 lower case letters and 1 upper case letter – Instantly
8 characters – 7 lower case letters and 1 upper case letter – 22 minutes
8 characters – At least 1 upper case letter + 1 number + 1 symbol – 8 hours
10 characters – At least 1 upper case letter + 1 number + 1 symbol – 5 years
12 characters – At least 1 upper case letter + 1 number + 1 symbol – 34,000 years
In case you were wondering, that was not a typo. 34,000 years is the approximate hacking time it would take to guess your password. I find it fascinating how adding a few extra characters can make all the difference. Those hackers are crafty, so we have to stay one step (or 340 centuries) ahead of them.
As always, I enjoy interacting with you! Feel free to contact me with any thoughts and questions. You can email or call me…my phone is with me all the time. I look forward to speaking with you soon!
Michael
Michael S. Lewis
President, Wealth Manager
Anchor Wealth Management
358 NW 1st Ave, Suite 2, Canby OR 97013
(503) 910-1687
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Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC (finra.org/sipc.org)
- Buchholz, K. (2021, Dec 1) This chart shows how long it would take a computer to hack your exact password. World Economic Forum. www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/12/passwords-safety-cybercrime/
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