Weekly Commentary

It’s Not Working Weekly Market Commentary 7-8-2013 Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company What if the Fed is not talking about tapering their purchases of bonds because the economy is getting better. There is no doubt parts of the economy are improving over the past year: Housing starts are up Auto sales have risen Durable goods […]

Learning how to see…things that aren’t really there! Weekly Market Commentary 7-1-2013 Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company After spending a considerable amount of time traveling to one of the financial “hot zones” in the world, Italy, I can make an important observation. Italians, like most investors, are having trouble seeing around the corner. I have […]

  Returning to RationalWeekly Market Commentary 6-24-2013Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company If there was any question about what direction monetary policy (interest rates) are trending toward the Fed clearly laid those to rest: Going forward, the economic outcomes that the Committee sees as most likely involve continuing gains in labor markets, supported by moderate growth […]

  Testing Your NervesWeekly Market Commentary 6-17-13Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Since the world misinterpreted the Federal Reserve Chairman’s comments, we have seen a massive increase in volatility (also known as worry, anguish and second guessing by investors). Volatility index Prior to Bernanke’s comments, the Dow Jones moved 100+ points in a single day only […]

  There Is No Free Lunch: Correlations AboundWeekly Market Commentary 6-10-13Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Since the beginning of the year, the S&P 500 is up 16.2%, the Dow up 17.7% and the NASDAQ up 15.6%.[i] Over the last several weeks, Wall Street has been having a capital debate with your wealth. On one side, […]

  The Onion Has More Than One Layer: Crying or smiling will depend on your sensitivityWeekly Market Commentary 6-3-13Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company As discussed in last week’s blog, policy errors are all around us. The US equity markets have pulled back 1.44% since May 22, when the Federal Reserve Chairman suggested they might ease […]

  On Wednesday, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve gave a very slight indication the Fed would consider adjusting the amount of bonds they buy on a monthly basis from $85 billion.(source: Bespoke, 5/24/13) In that moment, the US Equity markets tanked. We lost approximately $380 billion dollars in stock market valuation or 2.5% of […]

Client EducationPlanning For Health Care in RetirementMay 22, 2013 As part of our ongoing mission to help our clients make educated financial decisions, we are now releasing our latest client education presentation. This issue focuses on a topic that many of our clients brought to us as a concern, which is planning for health care […]

  The Most Undervalued Asset Class? Can Cheap get Cheaper?Weekly Market Commentary 5-20-13Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company It seems like nothing will stop the US equity markets from rallying. I’m convinced Federal Reserve activity is creating distortions in market participant’s valuation perspective. Equities in the US are getting more expensive. PE Ratios as a Percent […]

  A Chink in the Armor Weekly Market Commentary 5-13-13Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Amidst all the euphoria of a record stock market and plethora of earnings reports, it’s easy to lose sight of how weak and cautious the consumer really is. We have written in the past about the lack of wage growth in […]