Weekly Commentary

  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 for US equity markets. Since 1964, the average S&P 500 increase […]

  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 previous quantitative easing programs ended, the stock market declined.[ii] […]

  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, earnings are one thing that you […]

  This magazine hangs in our offices as a constant reminder that the more things seem different and difficult on Wall Street, the more they stay the same. I saved this Time magazine from the crash of 1987 as I was just two years into my career. At the time, the volatility seemed unsurvivable and […]

  The Millennials, those born since 1979, have witnessed profound events during their young adult lives: the Internet Bubble, 9/11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Financial Crisis, and the Great Recession.[i] Based on recent investor profile surveys by Wells Fargo, UBS, and the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, entering adulthood amidst all of these […]

  The economy added 248,000 jobs during September as reported by the US Government on Friday.[i] With the revisions to July of 31,000 and August of 38,000 that brings this year’s average monthly jobs gained to 227,000.[ii,iii] At some point, we should expect the current pace of jobs to add to corporate bottom lines through […]

  The US Dollar has been on a breathtaking rally we have not seen since 2010. The last time the US Dollar reached this level of value relative to other major currencies, our economy was finally emerging from the worst recession since the Great Depression and The Fed’s Quantitative Easing policies were just taking hold.[i, […]

  Last week was witness to the largest IPO in the history of the world.[i] Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, launched its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange and raised a record setting $25 billion.[ii] As of the close of trading on Friday, Alibaba had a valuation of $231 billion.[iii] That market […]

  It should be no surprise to any investor that the economy, and in many respects the US equity markets, have been propped up by the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing (QE) over the last 6 years.[i] On Wednesday of this week, the Fed will convene to discuss the future of interest rates and the actual […]

  While the recent jobs report showed some weakness for the month of August, it’s hard to argue that the US economy is slowing. US GDP is on an upward trajectory albeit slower than, and certainly not as strong as, most people would prefer. In last week’s post, we discussed some extraordinary benefits from consumers […]