Weekly Commentary

Does It MatterWeekly CEO Commentary 11-5-2012Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company Of all the times to not be political, now is one of the best. In what looks like a very close election and polls suggesting an evenly divided country, I am sure emotions are running very high. Out of respect for our equally […]

Managing Earnings and ExpectationsWeekly CEO Commentary 10-29-12Tim Phillips CEO, Phillips and Company We are over two weeks into earnings season, and it looks like companies are doing two things: managing their earnings well, and also managing expectations well. Through the end of last week, 245 companies of the S&P 500 have reported earnings, and 71% […]

The Stealth Consumer Weekly CEO Commentary 10-22-12 Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company For the third month in a row, retail sales numbers were stronger than expected according to the US Census Bureau. Perhaps the consumer is doing better than most give credit. This week I want to dive a little deeper into the […]

Q4 2012 Look Ahead: Look Beyond 66 DaysWeekly CEO Commentary 10-15-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company Every quarter for the last several years, I have presented a “Look Ahead” for the coming quarter during my committee meetings with institutional clients. I have summarized the presentation below, and provided a link to follow along with […]

Part Time ConfusionWeekly CEO Commentary 10-8-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company In September, the unemployment dropped to 7.8% from 8.1%, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics report last Friday. With such a dramatic drop in the unemployment rate, you would assume more Americans are getting back to work at a much faster pace than […]

The Real Meaning of RetailWeekly CEO Commentary 10-1-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company If you look at the chart below from the Federal Reserve, the dramatic peaks in the non-seasonally adjusted retail sales (green line) paint a clear picture, ‘tis the season for retail. This week we will preview how the numbers are looking. […]

  Wealth Does Not Equal Consumption: How Long Can This Last?Weekly CEO Commentary 9-24-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company It’s abundantly clear that Chairman Bernanke has been hard at work, and his actions have now had a positive impact on investors. As we have written in the past, the only thing monetary intervention might […]

The Kitchen SinkWeekly CEO Commentary 9-17-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company Last week the Federal Reserve announced additional steps to try to support a stronger economic recovery according to their press release on September 13, 2012. Here’s what they are going to do: Purchase $40 billion of mortgage debt every month (Quantitative Easing 3) […]

  A Housing Head Fake?Weekly CEO Commentary 9-10-12Tim Phillips, Phillips and Company Last Friday’s jobs report almost guaranteed additional monetary intervention by the Federal Reserve to come this week at the end of their meeting on the 13th. As I mentioned in last week’s blog, that could be a catalyst for a sell off. After […]

  “Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory”Weekly CEO Commentary 9-4-12Tim Phillips, CEO – Phillips and Company Leave it to Lincoln to come up with another great quip that is very fitting to our current monetary agenda. Allegedly, Lincoln used this phrase when he was referring to the ill-fated General Ambrose Burnside, shortly after a […]