Weekly Commentary

  Part Time America Weekly Market Commentary 8-5-2013Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company I have written on many occasions about the possibility of a structural change in the American workforce. Work is the bedrock of our economy. With over 71% of GDP generated by consumption, how we get our money matters. There is much more than […]

The Sidelines: It’s the Investor’s turn to sit on cash Weekly CEO Commentary 7-29-2013 Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Fixed income investments have become increasingly difficult to implement, manage and maintain. Since Fed Chair Bernanke began his “thinking out loud” on May 22 about the end of QE3, we have seen a wild ride for […]

  Inflation UrgencyWeekly Market Commentary 7-22-2013Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Over the weekend Japan, the world’s 3rd largest economy and 2nd largest developed economy, held a historic vote. Their Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, basically won control of both parliamentary houses and now has a mandate to continue to push his economic reforms.[i] He has pushed […]

Earnings Outlook Weekly Market Commentary 7-15-2013 Tim Phillips, CEO—Phillips & Company Earnings season is starting, and as we have written about in the past, earnings are what really drive stock prices. Expectations for this earnings season are somewhat cautious. According to Thomson Reuters: “So far, S&P 500 companies have issued 97 negative earnings preannouncements and […]

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 […]