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“V” Shaped Recovery The first half of the year felt like an eternity with unprecedented economic and market volatility. The COVID global economic shutdown caused asset prices and economic activity to plummet almost overnight. The S&P 500 fell 34% but... Read More →

The first quarter of 2020 saw new market highs that were followed by one of the quickest bear markets in history. Coronavirus hit the US hard in mid-March and investors reacted – the S&P 500 fell 34% and market volatility... Read More →

The new decade has started off with a bang. Rising geopolitical tensions began with the Iranian-backed US embassy attack in Baghdad followed by the retaliatory strike on the mastermind behind it. Market reaction thus far has been muted with stocks... Read More →

This year’s bond market rally has been one for the record books. A reversal in Fed policy and market fears of a slowing economy produced sharp declines in interest rates. High quality bonds as measured by the US Bond Aggregate... Read More →

A valuable tool in gaining insight into the overall strength of the stock market is the Value Line Geometric Index. This index tracks 1700 US companies, making it a great indicator of market breadth. It includes small, mid, large and... Read More →

For over a year, we have been talking about a tougher climb for stocks. The climb resumed in the first half of 2019 but was almost entirely supported by monetary policy with very little help from earnings. In 2018, GDP... Read More →

The US economy showed slight signs of slowing last quarter after a very strong 2018. Not slowing is new job creation which continues at a sturdy pace, pushing unemployment down to 50-year lows and bringing formerly discouraged, retired, and part-time... Read More →

REVIEW OF 2018 PORTFOIO CHANGES Throughout 2018, we enacted several portfolio changes intended to reduce portfolio risk given our cautious investment outlook then and into 2019. Changes in the Fixed Income portfolio were designed to improve quality and reduce exposure... Read More →

By almost any measure, the US economy is performing as well as it ever has. The jobless rate fell to 3.8%, the lowest level since 1969, supporting real wage growth and strong consumer spending. Corporate earnings are set to rise... Read More →

Inflation and Interest Rates Moving Higher Short-term interest rates continued to move higher, pushed upward by the Fed’s continued pressure to normalize rates, while long-term interest rates took a breather during the 2nd quarter. After reaching a 5-year high of... Read More →