In The News

We are not in 2008. Headlines reminiscent of the Financial Crisis, “Bank Collapse” or “Government Bailout,” may make it seem like déjà vu, however, Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) failure is quite different. Complex securities drove the Great Financial Crisis; no one, including the banks, had any concept of how great the losses could wind up. […]

After a solid start to 2023, February experienced a repricing of risk assets as markets reacted to new economic data. Although almost every asset class finished February in the red, most indexes are still positive for the year, with growth stocks outperforming value and small caps besting their large company peers. Market expectations differing from […]

Markets are off to a strong start in 2023, especially growth stocks which struggled last year. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Index has climbed close to 14%, the small-cap Russell 2000 Index over 10%, and the large-cap S&P 500 Index rose almost 8%. Although only six weeks into the new year, stock markets have traded in two […]

Last year was full of market-moving headlines, from the war in Ukraine to midterm elections, and even a crypto fallout; there was never a dull moment. However, inflation and interest rates hold the title as the biggest market-moving factors of 2022. The two combined led the S&P 500 Index to a loss of 18%, its […]

Interest Rates The market began the 4th quarter optimistically, with the S&P 500 producing positive returns in October and November. But December turned negative, wrapping a difficult 2022 for both stocks and bonds.  The main storyline driving markets this year has been soaring inflation and the Fed’s aggressive response to tame it. The federal funds […]

November’s market action continued the main themes of 2022: inflation and interest rates. Like October, these factors provided a tailwind for stocks, sending the S&P 500 Index higher by 5.6% during the month and 14.1% so far this quarter. November also marked another month of value stocks outperforming their growth counterparts. Inflation was the first […]

As if midterm elections, interest rates, and inflation were not enough for an exciting start to November, a cryptocurrency meltdown was added to the list. These factors combined to lead the S&P 500 Index to a 3% rise to start the month and include last week’s S&P 500 Index rally to close up 6% after […]

Inflation remains at multi-decade highs, leading the Federal Reserve to continue with plans to increase short-term interest rates. Yet, the stock market just commenced a strong October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its best monthly return since 1976, and despite rising interest rates throughout the month, the NASDAQ Composite even posted a 4% return. […]