Weekly Commentary

  The political silly season is in full swing and it would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. In an effort to add some rationality to the passionate debate, let’s review the impact of a trade war and isolationist policies on the U.S. economy. The backdrop to much of the anxiety that many American’s […]

  It appears the one trend we wanted to see a reversal in continues on a downward trajectory…. Earnings. Each week we see more analysts push back their expectations for a recovery in earnings growth of the S&P 500 companies. This week was no exception. While earnings growth has been negative the last three periods, […]

  In last week’s post (link) we discussed an inflection point in the markets that would likely play out over the course of the week. We wanted to see how market participants would react to a continued absence of corporate earnings growth vs. the growing U.S. Economy. We got our answer! The U.S. Equity markets […]

  It sounds like the title to a really good suspense movie. While it’s not a movie title, it certainly reflects this precise moment in time that the U.S. Economy and corporate earnings are at. On the one hand, we have continued strength in the U.S. Consumer. Retail sales were up in January 3.4% over […]

  Last week marked another inflection point in a series of volatile weeks for the stock market. [i] We still maintain one of the main drivers of the volatility is that global investors are realizing Q4 2015 corporate profits being reported are abysmal. While this should be no surprise to our readers as we have […]

  U.S. stocks stabilized and closed more than 2 percent higher on the last trading day of January. The market still posted the worst start to a year in at least seven years. That left investors on the edge with fears’; some real and some made up. In our post last week, we reviewed China […]

  While “horriblization” is not a real word, it seems like it should be lately. Although there is no actual definition in the dictionary, I think I can loosely define it as taking something that is not that bad, and exaggerating it as way worse. It seems like investors are letting their emotions make their […]

  The start of 2016 has certainly been a tumultuous one. The S&P 500 is down almost 8%. [i] It’s times like this when investor panic sets in. I hear statements like: “What happens if the market goes to zero?” “The world is a dangerous place and stocks are dangerous!” “My portfolio must be down […]

  In the wake of the worst five-day performance to start a new year for U.S. stocks, ever (S&P 500 down 5.98%), it’s a good time to review our Look Ahead. This week’s post reviews our 2016 Q1 Look Ahead. Please click on the following link to watch our video presentation. Click Here to watch […]

This time of year brings the traditional wishes of health, happiness, and prosperity for 2016. We at Phillips and Company certainly echo those wishes for you and your family. Another time honored tradition is the making of New Year’s resolutions. In fact, 45% of Americans make a New Year’s resolution. The top 10 resolutions are […]