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“The Fed’s High-Wire Act” Today marks the start of the first full week of trading for Q3 2018.  We’d like to take this opportunity to present you with our Q3 2018 Look Ahead. For a PDF presentation, click here. For a narrated video presentation, click here. Below,… More >>

The Federal Reserve got the green light to continue raising interest rates as May inflation reports [x] showed it had finally reached its 2 percent target inflation rate after five years of waiting. [i] [ii] [iii]   Given that the Fed has met its inflation objective, I… More >>

The trade war rhetoric has heated up, although we continue to maintain our view that this is more of a food fight than an actual fight. With trade war tensions dominating news headlines for the better part of 2018, the U.S. large-cap indices have shown low- to… More >>

U.S. equity markets have remained relatively flat year-to-date, despite the phenomenal corporate earnings we’ve seen this year.  Just consider this: The S&P 500 index is up 3.33 percent.  [i] All the while, earnings per share growth in Q1 came in at more than 20… More >>

Last week the Federal Reserve reported U.S. household net worth had crossed over the $100 trillion level for the first time. [i] [ii] That is astonishing, particularly when you consider that U.S. household net worth was under $100 trillion as recently as Q4 2017, and… More >>

  Donald Trump’s economic agenda looks to be gaining significant traction.  While U.S. GDP growth came in at 2.2 percent for Q1 2018, the underlying metrics look strong, especially consumption and fixed investments. [i] For Q1, consumption added 0.71 percent to the… More >>

We are fast approaching the longest economic expansion in recorded U.S. history. [i] The visceral reaction would be to think that this amazing economic run must be coming to an end soon.  That very well may be the case.  However, before making that determination, we… More >>

It’s no secret that interest rates have been on the rise, but it appears they are rising at a faster pace as of late.   Specifically, home mortgage rates, which impact so many Americans, are at levels they haven’t been in some time.   In fact, 63 percent of Americans own… More >>

The earnings growth for Q1 2018 was nothing short of spectacular.  Approximately 91 percent of companies in the S&P 500 reported results for the first quarter, and EPS is likely to land in the 25 percent growth range. [i] In fact, we have not seen EPS growth of this… More >>

Almost always, advisors and investment managers focus on generating returns for their clients.  That’s the general emphasis when you hire someone to help you.  To that end, one generally expects over long periods of time to have a pie chart with a various mix of stocks… More >>