Weekly Commentary

  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 […]

  This time of year brings out some of the strangest behavior Wall Street can exhibit. Despite being wrong year in and year out, Wall Street analysts continue to make wild guesses at where the markets will be in the coming year. We at Phillips and Company avoid this ludicrous tradition, as intentionally being wrong […]

  Now that the Fed has raised the Fed Funds rates from effectively zero to .25%, we can move on to the next item on the Wall of Worry to wring our hands over. In last week’s post, I laid out our broad perspective on where we are in the market cycle. In summary, we […]

  On the eve of the first interest rate increase in nearly a decade, markets have naturally become quite jittery. When you consider the number of issues investors are digesting, an increase in volatility is not a surprise. First, the U.S. Federal Reserve may tighten monetary policy by raising interest rates, while other Central Banks […]

  Friday was another strong confirmation that the U.S. consumer is heading in the right direction. The U.S. Department of Labor released their monthly jobs figures and they continued to show strength. The U.S. Economy added 211,000 jobs in November along with strong revisions to prior reports in October and September adding an additional 35,000 […]

  The U.S. Consumer would appear to be taking a more cautious approach to their spending habits compared to last year’s holiday shopping season. However, there may be a reversal in trend coming. Black Friday sales were down by 1.5% over last year’s numbers according to RetailNext. 151 million Americans partook in the Black Friday […]