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  After declining during the first half of December, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices rebounded to close at new highs on December 26th, providing a nice holiday gift to investors. Historically, the month of December has performed very well with the S&P 500… More >>

  I know we have opined on the price of oil for the last couple of weeks and perhaps the topic is getting a bit tired. However, when the price of any asset class drops as precipitously as oil has, the topic merits continued examination. Those joyfully absorbed in the… More >>

  It appears market participants are growing more concerned about global deflation rather than focusing on the benefits of cheaper energy prices. Across the spectrum of commodities you can see noticeable drops in prices.[i] As most of these are industrial commodities,… More >>

  The recent employment report released on Friday gave us the strongest sign of the year that the US macro-economic picture is looking very strong. The US economy added 321,000 jobs in November of which 314,000 were in the private sector.[i] This is the best year for… More >>

  It's been well over 4 years since we wrote about the need for the return of the self-fulfilling economic cycle, one where the consumer earns and spends. In turn, US companies earn, hire, and produce, which drives more income earners to spend. It’s a "virtuous cycle" or a… More >>

  This week the European Central Bank President (Draghi) signaled what we had been anticipating for quite some time. He stated at a banking conference on Friday, the ECB would “do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible.”[i] It's no… More >>

  The Q3 earnings season ended with a report from Walmart last week. When we kicked this season off, expectations were very low but gradually improved. S&P 500 companies were expected to grow earnings by 1.3% at the launch of the season and they produced a whopping… More >>

  With the Republican sweep of the midterm elections in the rear view mirror and both houses of Congress now in clear control by Republicans, markets may view this landslide in very favorable terms. First, most midterm elections have produced very positive short-run results… More >>

  As expected, the Federal Reserve confirmed last week that it would end its QE3 bond-buying program. The Fed still holds over $4.4 trillion in assets that it has purchased over the last six years, but will no longer provide additional stimulus to the economy.[i] When… More >>

  Finally market participants are focused on more of what matters and less of what doesn't. We had a plentitude of earnings last week and as a result we had a significant drop in volatility.[i] There are some things in life that really matter and are hard to count,… More >>