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Now What The $800 billion Clinton-Bush-Obama Tax Plan is in the books. The $600 billion Fed bond purchase program is underway and the stock market is moving higher as a result. United States GDP estimates for 2011 are inching up with some very notable experts, including… More >>

The CBO: Congressional Budget Office Clinton, Bush, and Obama Stimulus Program Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows Indeed Weekly Market Commentary 12-13-10 At the end of the week just as everyone was heading out to enjoy the weekend, I took a quick glimpse at the future,… More >>

At the confluence of the mighty Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean is Buoy 10, a great spot for Salmon Fishing and getting sea sick. The absolute chop, current and waves caused by these two massive bodies of water cause quite a stir. In fact, it’s often people lose their… More >>

Weekly Market Commentary 11-29-10 With official earnings season concluded, market participants are clearly re-focusing their attention back on to macro economic… More >>

Weekly Market Commentary 11-22-10 I rarely write about local issues here in Oregon as this blog is received by thousands of people throughout the United States. Generally, Oregon issues aren't that relevant to the macro picture in the economy. However, something very… More >>

I gave a brief explanation last week to a group of employees here at Phillips and Company on why the recently announced Quantitative Easing policy by the Fed is not inflationary in its primary essence. I think it's worth discussing here, as I believe alignment around outlook… More >>

Sleep Well Money Money that helps me to sleep well tonight is probably not going to help me live well tomorrow. The 5% return many have received in the last ten years of investing is not going to be enough for the next twenty years (Trailing Returns, as of 3Q 2010, for an… More >>

November 1st 2010   The GDP numbers that were reported this week were not as bad as most think. Sure, at 2% GDP growth for Q3 (initial) we are not going to quickly put more people back to work. However, on a rolling 12 month basis the 2% added to the prior 3 quarters puts… More >>

Macro Economic Outlook: No double-dip, but no “W”, or “V-shape” recovery either. “It won’t look like any letter in the alphabet, it will look more like punctuation marks (e.g. ! ? - : )” There are still more opportunities in the… More >>

Consistent downgrades from Wall Street analysts have set us up for a very smooth start to the earnings season. "Of the 132 companies in the S&P 500 that reported results since Oct. 7, more than 85 percent have topped analysts’ per- share earnings estimates, according… More >>