Weekly Commentary

We are fast approaching the longest economic expansion in recorded U.S. history. [i] The visceral reaction would be to think that this amazing economic run must be coming to an end soon.  That very well may be the case.  However, before making that determination, we should ask ourselves; why can’t this expansion continue, and set […]

It’s no secret that interest rates have been on the rise, but it appears they are rising at a faster pace as of late.   Specifically, home mortgage rates, which impact so many Americans, are at levels they haven’t been in some time.   In fact, 63 percent of Americans own their own home, and of those […]

The earnings growth for Q1 2018 was nothing short of spectacular.  Approximately 91 percent of companies in the S&P 500 reported results for the first quarter, and EPS is likely to land in the 25 percent growth range. [i] In fact, we have not seen EPS growth of this magnitude since 2010. [ii] If you […]

Almost always, advisors and investment managers focus on generating returns for their clients.  That’s the general emphasis when you hire someone to help you.  To that end, one generally expects over long periods of time to have a pie chart with a various mix of stocks (equities) and bonds (fixed income) that are likely to […]

The U.S. economy remains at full throttle and firing on all cylinders.  This past Friday, April 27, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, released the U.S. GDP numbers for Q1 2018.  [i] The U.S. GDP increased by an annual rate of 2.3 percent.  Despite the typical drag on […]

“A correction is a reverse movement, usually negative, of at least 10 percent in a stock, bond, commodity or index to adjust for an overvaluation. The latest stock market correction occurred on February 8, 2018 as the DJIA and the S&P 500 fell more than 10 percent from their recent highs hit in late January […]

“Nothing Succeeds Like the Appearance of Success” – Christopher Lasch [xii] We are getting our first look at Q1 2018 earnings and they are extraordinary.  Although only a small percentage of S&P 500 companies have reported, those that have reported have beat, or exceeded, high expectations. [i] Because the sample size is extremely small (only […]

After the first week of trading for Q2 2018 we see many signals that volatility is here to stay. We would like to take this opportunity to present you with our Q2 2018 Look Ahead. For the PDF presentation, click here. For the narrated video presentation, click here. Below, we’ve highlighted several key elements from […]

The first quarter of 2018 was a wild one.  On twenty-four days of the quarter, the Dow moved over 1 percent in either direction within a single trading session. The same thing happened on only ten days in 2017. What’s more, we saw a 1,175-point decline on February 5—the largest single-day point decline in the […]

This past week President Trump announced his direct action against China in efforts to tame the trade imbalance between our two countries (China imports minus what we export to China).  That trade imbalance represents approximately $375 billion, which is 1.9 percent of our total U.S. GDP.  [i] [ii] It’s clear that the trend of imports […]