
Weekly Market Commentary | May 19, 2022
On the survival series “Alone,” the tension ratchets higher whenever participants encounter bears. Some participants live warily alongside bears, while others tap out. A similar thing happens among investors when they encounter a bear market.

Weekly Market Commentary | May 12, 2022
There is a lot of uncertainty in financial markets – and markets hate uncertainty.
In recent weeks, economic and financial market data have been telling different stories – and that makes it tough for investors to know where the United States economy is headed.….

Weekly Market Commentary | May 5, 2022
Correction and contraction….
Investing during 2022 has been like running a forest trail and having unexpected obstacles appear every so often – a fallen tree, a swarm of biting flies, a bear with cubs – you get the idea…

Weekly Market Commentary | April 28, 2022
The Federal Reserve’s Ice Bucket Challenge…
Remember a few years ago when people raised money for charity by challenging others to pour buckets of icy water over their heads?

Weekly Market Commentary | April 21, 2022
Here’s a riddle:
How can inflation be 8.5 percent and 6.5 percent at the same time?

Weekly Market Commentary | April 14, 2022
The first quarter of 2022 was jam-packed with volatility-inducing events: rising inflation, war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, sanctions on Russia, and a new COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Weekly Market Commentary | April 7, 2022
Checking in on the Federal Reserve.

Weekly Market Commentary | March 31, 2022
Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it…

Weekly Market Commentary | March 24, 2022
Markets were reassured by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)’s actions last week.

Weekly Market Commentary | March 17, 2022
Investor optimism is quite low.
In just two weeks, the war in Ukraine has changed the status of 1.3 million people – approximately the number of people who live in Philadelphia or Phoenix…

Weekly Market Commentary | March 10, 2022
The world is adapting to a changing reality.
As the war in Ukraine intensified last week, financial markets grappled with uncertainty.

Weekly Market Commentary | March 3, 2022
Last week, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision ignited the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II.

Weekly Market Commentary | February 24, 2022
Investors’ appetite for risk diminished as the Russian threat to Ukraine intensified.
Volatility was high last week as investors guessed and second-guessed how markets would react if Russia invaded Ukraine and sanctions were imposed on Russia…

Weekly Market Commentary | February 17, 2022
Why did stock markets in the United States finish the week lower?

Weekly Market Commentary | February 10, 2022
A rosy view through the rearview mirror.
To say that economists did not have great expectations for the January employment report might be understating their position.

Weekly Market Commentary | February 3, 2022
Last week, the January stock market decline was interrupted by a Friday afternoon rally.

Weekly Market Commentary | January 27, 2022
When is a barometer not a barometer?
It’s widely recognized that people do not make perfect financial decisions. In fact, many investors rely on mental shortcuts when asked to make complex decisions.

Weekly Market Commentary | January 20, 2022
Is the economy doing well, or not?
If you skimmed the headlines last week, you may have seen that retail sales – the purchases we make from stores in-person or online – declined 1.9 percent in December.

Weekly Market Commentary | January 13, 2022
Here’s a little story about a group called the Fed…
In the 1950’s, then Fed Chair William McChesney Martin described the Federal Reserve as “the chaperone who has ordered the punch bowl removed just when the party was really warming up.”

Weekly Market Commentary | January 6, 2022
2021 was a fizzing mints-in-soda kind of year.
Everything seemed to shoot higher – from COVID-19 cases and vaccinations to economic growth and global stock markets.

Monthly Market Commentary | December 2021
COVID-19 strikes again.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in Europe, climbing from about 700,000 new cases a week in September to 2.6 million a week in November.

Monthly Market Commentary | November 2021
The road to recovery is slow and bumpy.
Last week, we learned that economic growth slowed in the third quarter as a new wave of COVID-19 surged across the United States, reported The Bureau of Economic Analysis

Proposed Tax Changes
The news is buzzing! After months of anticipation, the Democrats’ tax plan has arrived.

Monthly Market Commentary | October 2021
Central banks have a lot of influence on investors, markets, and economies.

Monthly Market Commentary | September 2021
“Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder,” advised the Persian poet Rumi.

Monthly Market Commentary | August 2021
Shortest ever.
Last week, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) finally announced the official dates for the recession that occurred in 2020.

Monthly Market Commentary | July 2021
What begins with the letter “I”?
Infrastructure is essential and sometimes taken for granted. Pipes carry drinking water to our homes, offices, and healthcare facilities, and carry away sewage and wastewater.

Monthly Market Commentary | June 2021
Are we at a tipping point? One side effect of the pandemic was a collapse in demand for oil, which led to “the largest revision to the value of the oil industry’s assets in at least a decade,” reported Collin Eaton and Sarah McFarlane of The Wall Street Journal.

Monthly Market Commentary | May 2021
It’s Spring and economic recovery is in the air. Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported the U.S. economy grew at a 6.4 percent annualized rate for the first three months of 2021.

Monthly Market Commentary | April 2021
Last week, unemployment claims were looking good and consumers were feeling good. The number of Americans applying for first-time unemployment benefits declined.

Monthly Market Commentary | March 2021
Students of financial markets may have noted a historically unusual event last week. On Thursday, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes briefly matched the dividend yield for the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index.

Monthly Market Commentary | February 2021
They say people watching the same event often see different things. That seems to have been the case last week when share prices of a few companies experienced tremendous volatility.

Monthly Market Commentary | January 2021
Last week was the cherry on top of a turbulent year for investors. After the $900 billion fiscal stimulus bill was signed on Sunday, major U.S. stock indices moved higher.

Consolidated Appropriations Act
At the close of 2020, Congress passed a second bill to address the challenges of the coronavirus, and President Trump signed it into law.

2020 Year-In-Review
Hello and Happy New Year. Once in a very great while, there comes a year in the economy and the markets that serves as a tutorial—in effect, a master class in the principles of successful long-term, goal-focused investing.

Monthly Market Commentary | December 2020
Last week, vaccine optimism immunized investors against signs of economic weakness.

Monthly Market Commentary | November 2020
Last week, financial markets and economic data told very different stories. Reviewing economic data is a bit like looking in a rearview mirror. Typically, it offers information about what is behind us.

Monthly Market Commentary | October 2020
For four weeks, the U.S. stock market has sparked and sputtered like a campfire in light rain. Today, pandemic-driven demand is providing fuel for the investors. The need for certain types of products and services has accelerated and innovation is creating new opportunities.

Monthly Market Commentary | September 2020
The stock market rallies like it’s 1986. August has been a good month for stock investors. At the end of last week, the S&P 500 Index was up 6.8 percent for the month. The Index is poised to deliver its best returns for the month since 1986, when it gained 7.1 percent, reported Financial Times.

Monthly Market Commentary | August 2020
Last week delivered a mixed bag of financial and economic news. As many expected, the U.S. economy did not fare well during the second quarter. COVID-19 lockdowns and business closings caused productivity to fall by one-third
Weekly Market Commentary | May 26, 2022
On the fear and greed cycle…
One of the most challenging times for investors is a market downturn. Whether markets are experiencing a correction or a bear market, it’s really disturbing to watch the value of your savings and investments decline.