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The U.S. economy remains at full throttle and firing on all cylinders.  This past Friday, April 27, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, released the U.S. GDP numbers for Q1 2018.  [i] The U.S. GDP increased by an annual rate… More >>

“A correction is a reverse movement, usually negative, of at least 10 percent in a stock, bond, commodity or index to adjust for an overvaluation. The latest stock market correction occurred on February 8, 2018 as the DJIA and the S&P 500 fell more than 10 percent… More >>

“Nothing Succeeds Like the Appearance of Success” – Christopher Lasch [xii] We are getting our first look at Q1 2018 earnings and they are extraordinary.  Although only a small percentage of S&P 500 companies have reported, those that have reported have beat, or… More >>

After the first week of trading for Q2 2018 we see many signals that volatility is here to stay. We would like to take this opportunity to present you with our Q2 2018 Look Ahead. For the PDF presentation, click here. For the narrated video presentation, click here.… More >>

The first quarter of 2018 was a wild one.  On twenty-four days of the quarter, the Dow moved over 1 percent in either direction within a single trading session. The same thing happened on only ten days in 2017. What’s more, we saw a 1,175-point decline on February 5—the… More >>

This past week President Trump announced his direct action against China in efforts to tame the trade imbalance between our two countries (China imports minus what we export to China).  That trade imbalance represents approximately $375 billion, which is 1.9 percent of… More >>

The U.S. debt level just blew the doors off any expectations.  Late last week the U.S. Department of the Treasury reported U.S. debt levels that topped $21 trillion. [i] Make no mistake, this is the highest level of debt on record. It also puts the U.S. economy at a… More >>

Last Friday, March 9, 2018, we celebrated a birthday that may have slipped your attention.  While we were watching the stock market thunder ahead 1.74 percent [i], Friday marked the ninth year of this current bull market and the second-longest stock market rally in our… More >>

The headline-grabbing Trump administration outdid itself this week, once again, after announcing steel and aluminum tariffs likely to be enacted next week.  [i] Not surprisingly, the market reacted violently to this announcement. [ii] Furthermore, U.S. equity… More >>

  The recent uptick in volatility within the equity markets, in my opinion, is due to investors quickly discounting rising inflation.  As we alluded to in last week’s post (here), the risk parity guys have done their share to contribute as well.  Inflation has never… More >>