In The News

The past few months have been much of the same narrative for markets: Inflation concerns. Tighter monetary policy. Higher interest rates. All three have led to volatility in the stock market and concerns that the economy might enter a recession. These factors point toward the Federal Reserve being one of the most critical factors in […]

If you paid attention to nothing about the stock market last month only to look at the S&P 500’s return of 0.2%, you would think it was a rather dull four weeks. That could not be further from the truth. After an intramonth drawdown of over 9%, the S&P 500 Index flirted with bear market […]

The first five months of 2022 could be characterized as unusual. The typically safe, conservative bond allocations in portfolios are in the red. The often forgotten, long underperforming commodities are seeing their day in the sun as one of the only asset classes trading in positive territory. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Indexes have closed […]

Friday the 13th brought some luck to markets as stocks rallied to close the week, although the S&P 500 Index still closed in negative territory for the sixth consecutive week, the longest streak since 2011. It can be difficult to find bright spots during a negative period, but Friday’s rally, which saw 95% of S&P […]

2022 has not been kind to capital markets through the first four months of the year. A combination of inflation, rising rates, the Fed, the war in Ukraine, and COVID-19 lock downs in China have posed headwinds throughout most of the year. April brought many of the same worries, as well as the kickoff to […]

Rising Inflation Beginning last spring and continuing through 2022, rising inflation has become the dominant factor, both spooking markets and squeezing the already tight budgets for millions of Americans. Global supply chain disruptions continue as China and other countries lockdown their economies to battle COVID. Shortages of computer chips, new and used cars, furniture, battery […]

As we approach the end of a first quarter filled with macroeconomic and geopolitical events, stocks finished the last two weeks in positive territory, which feels like a win, albeit a small one. Even with the negative events that have occurred to start the year, the S&P 500 Index is down just 4.4%, through the […]

Inflation-induced market volatility has been center stage over recent months until geopolitics quickly became the top story with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We are by no means foreign policy experts; we do not wish to diminish the humanitarian crisis developing in Eastern Europe, but as financial planners we need to consider investment risks, and even […]