Category Archive

Thinking about where to invest your money can be overwhelming and confusing, especially for those who are unfamiliar with all options for investing. If you’d like to take advantage of the ease of stock trading with the diversification of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) can give you the best of both worlds. Here are some key things to know about …

Summary Capital markets remain turbulent as we make our way through the early months of 2023. Thus, the priority to manage investment risk through broad portfolio diversification remains as important as ever. And gold is an allocation that has distinctive characteristics in this regard. Doing Its Own Thing. One of the keys that differentiates gold from a portfolio diversification perspective is …

Summary The latest reading on inflation was released on Tuesday morning.  On the surface, the report for the month of January seemed generally unmoving.  The annual rate of inflation did not come down as much as expected, but it still edged lower.  And this latest pricing data was not nearly as bad as some market watchers feared heading into the …

Summary U.S. stock investors are at it again.  Outside of a tax loss harvesting blip at the end of last year, the S&P 500 has been moving steadily higher over the past several months since bottoming last October.   Over this time period, the benchmark index posted a more than +20% trough to peak bounce.  A primary driver of this recent …

Summary Non-U.S. stocks have been on fire as of late.  After years of chronic underperformance relative to the United States, both developed international and emerging market stocks have been strongly outperforming over the last few months.  This recent development raises a worthwhile question – have we finally arrived at the point where non-U.S. markets are ready to take the sustained …

Summary Maria: “You should get out of these clothes immediately. You’ll catch your death of pneumonia, you will.”Clouseau: “Yes, I probably will. But it’s all part of life’s rich pageant, you know?” A Shot In The Dark, 1964 After more than a year of a back and forth downward slide, stocks continue to struggle. Frustrating indeed, but such challenges are all part …

Summary We have begun the descent down the other side of the mountain. The long dormant inflationary pressures that erupted nearly two years ago are increasingly subsiding. Assuming this trend continues, this has important implications for the capital markets outlook as we move through the coming year. The impact on some asset classes may take time to materialize, while other …

This week, we had our first full week of market action in 2023.  And so far, we’ve been seeing a friendly market with mostly up days here as we begin the year.  Could it be a sign of things to come?  Maybe but I wouldn’t set my sights on that too soon because there is still a lot of “froth” …

As we begin the new year, it’s only fitting to take a step back and reflect on what was and what is to be.  Well, we all know how 2022 played out and it was quite frankly an unprecedented year in both the equity and bond markets as both trended down pretty hard all year.  Equity losses were the highest …

Happy New Year!  This week, we’ve had a bit of an up and down week in the markets as it has been trying to eke out a Santa Claus rally. One developing story that may shake things up is the news out of China about another Covid outbreak.  This is certainly not what anyone wants to hear but it is …