Clear Rock Advisors Outsourced RIA Solutions
Clear Rock Advisors outsources its proven investment expertise and state-of-the art back office and portfolio administration to empower select strategic partners to serve clients with sophisticated, institutional, and cost-effective investment solutions. Outsourced CIO At the heart of the RIA Solutions value proposition is Clear Rock’s Outsourced CIO (OCIO) capabilities that mirrors its proven investment philosophy... Read More →
Advantage: US Small Caps
Small cap stocks surged post-election after largely disappointing investors since the financial crisis nine years ago. The historical average small company return premium of about 2% per year above large companies was starting to look like a faded anomaly. Through June of 2016, small stocks underperformed large stocks by almost -5% per year for the... Read More →
Growth or Value – Is one better than the other?
Billions of dollars are at stake by investors betting on value stocks outperforming growth stocks and vice versa. Is one better than the other? Value investors cite the success of Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham, which is hard to argue against. However, growth investing has also rewarded investors in companies like Google, Apple and Facebook.... Read More →
Market Commentary
Q4 2017
We began 2016 with a market sell-off that was the worst ever start to a new year, but recovered to end the year firmly in the black. The strong year-end rally was the result of a change in investor expectations for improved economic growth, stronger corporate earnings, and higher capital investment. The 2016 rally extends... Read More →
Word to the Wise: This is not 1980
We have been hearing plenty of comparisons recently between “Reaganomics” and “Trumponomics”. Even their populist slogans, of “Morning in America” and “Make America Great Again” ring a similar tone. Shaking things up in Washington DC was as popular of a theme in 1980 as it is today. Rolling back job-killing government regulation, reducing taxes, and... Read More →
What is Normal?
There is a lot of discussion among economists and market strategists about a “return to normal”. This primarily refers to a return to a neutral fiscal policy by the Federal Reserve from a period of unprecedented monetary stimulus resulting in artificially low interest rates. But, how do we define normal? One way to estimate what... Read More →
Market Commentary
Q3 2016
Markets did well in the 3rd quarter, primarily due to the Federal Reserve maintaining low interest rates and an economy that continues to show gradual improvement. While this economic expansion is now the fourth longest since WWII, it is also the slowest and has produced total growth that is fractional compared to previous expansionary periods.... Read More →
Reasons For Optimism
Stocks have failed to surpass the highs set last year and have even broken down in some parts of the world. So, where is the downward pressure coming from? The most obvious recent pressure is political. The surprise vote from the UK to leave the EU is a classic example. Less obvious is the slowing... Read More →
A Different Approach
At Clear Rock, we believe it is important to invest a portion of our clients’ assets in a category we call Diversifying and Opportunistic investments. Global economies and markets are more connected than ever, making it difficult to achieve true diversification with a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds. During the last market downturn, investors... Read More →
The Next 7 Years
One thing we know is the financial crisis of 2008 created incredible opportunities to own assets of all types at incredibly low entry points. That was 7 years ago but seems like yesterday to investors who experienced the gut-wrenching feeling of opening a quarterly investment statement and seeing the damage wrought by the market sell-off.... Read More →