In The News

Earnings stole the show and were a significant factor leading the S&P 500 Index to a week of positive returns. The week began in the red, but once companies started reporting their third-quarter earnings, sentiment quickly changed and led the S&P 500 Index to a weekly gain of 1.8%. Although inflation concerns, headlined by energy […]

The last four trading days of September proved to be a culmination of investor anxieties. From various economic data to continued supply chain constraints, all were front and center as the third quarter came to a close. The one economic factor that has not been much of a topic as of late is interest rates, […]

Although the week ended with a trivial gain in the S&P 500 Index, it was not exactly boring. The markets had plenty of news to trade around, first with Chinese property developer Evergrande’s expected miss of an interest payment to bondholders, followed by the global central banks offering guidance on their tapering plans. While none […]

Q&A with AFG’s Investment Research Team Labor Day Weekend serves as an unofficial end of summer for many of us.  Students return to school, summer vacations are over, football season starts, and dusk comes noticeably earlier in the night.  Driven by this change, many people begin to plan for the year’s final quarter or even […]

The holiday-shortened week ended with the S&P 500 Index in the red by about 1%, roughly the same distance it is away from its all-time high. Although markets are still optimistic, traders took a bit of a pause last week to contemplate the Delta variant of COVID-19 and how the Federal Reserve will approach monetary […]

This year started with a negative month, sending market commentators on editorials focused on the worst; rising rates, inflation fears, continued COVID-19 cases, etc. Since January, every month has ended in positive territory. Even as Delta variant cases of COVID-19 increased throughout the world, most equity markets finished August in the green. Last month did […]

The S&P 500 Index capped another positive month, ending July up 2.4% and trading close to yet another all-time high. Like the second quarter, we continue to see a rotation from the beginning of the year. Growth is back to outperforming value, and small caps are underperforming large caps. The Russell 2000 small-cap index even […]

As parents, we spend our lives nurturing and teaching our children skills to help them mature into adulthood. Perhaps one of the most important skills that we can teach is often overlooked – money.  Teaching children good financial habits can dramatically impact their lives. Their financial education should start early—but it’s never too late to […]