Blog

  To celebrate Earth Day almost 40 years ago, Walt Kelly wrote, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”  The essence of his work was to remind Americans we were all responsible for hurting the environment. [i] Oddly enough, we had a similar reminder during last week’s… More >>

  After completing the first full trading week of the second quarter, the market continues to rocket toward the all-time highs it reached last September.  With the market’s exuberance, we’d like to remind investors of the potential clouds headed our way, as we present… More >>

    Talks of a recession seem to be on everyone’s mind following the decision by the Federal Reserve to put a hold on further interest rate hikes in 2019.  During last week’s blog post, “A Stair Case Maze of Confusion,” we discussed the inverted yield curve and its… More >>

(Earnings Recessions, Inverted Yield Curves, and Economic Recessions)   Every few years I repurpose some old themes and remind our readers that, although past performance is not always indicative of future performance, cycles do repeat themselves.  Through 2015 and much… More >>

  In most developed countries, an important public utility like power or water is always available with the flip of a switch or the turn of a knob.  As consumers, we have grown so dependent on these reliable services that we hardly think about how they work.  The… More >>

  The latest Employment Situations report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on Friday, March 8, 2019, suggested the economy is in the midst of a massive cooling down. The United States economy added a mere 20,000 jobs versus the 181,000 that economists were… More >>

  One of the most astonishing economic miracles I have seen in my 30-plus years of professional investing is the possibility of our economy receiving a second wind. That’s right! Considering the length of this economic recovery compared to past recoveries, this… More >>

  Investors have been working new funds into both equities and fixed income.  Yet these two markets are forecasting widely different outcomes for the future of the U.S. economy.  Ultimately, like any clash of two titans, only one of them will win. [i]     As many… More >>

  In last week’s market commentary, “Retail Therapy,” I wrote about the advanced look at retail sales numbers for December 2018.  The underlying takeaway from this post was that the advanced look could provide investors insight into whether good or bad times lie ahead.… More >>

  On Thursday, February 14, 2019, investors will get an advanced look at retail sales numbers from the December 2018 holiday shopping season.  Retail sales numbers are one of many economic indicators to which investors should pay attention.  Retail sales provide a unique… More >>