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It would appear from the latest data that the U.S. economy is running full steam ahead.  There is little in terms of actual data that would suggest a slowdown is coming anytime soon.  Let’s review!   First, the latest jobs report suggests the economy is adding a… More >>

  For the first time in seemingly a long time, we were reminded that markets do, in fact, fluctuate.  [i] Although we closed the week up 2.36 percent, we had a dramatic downswing this past Friday when the DOW Jones Industrial Average fell 300 points during the trading… More >>

  The U.S. economy added another small notch to its macroeconomic growth narrative last week with sufficient growth from retailers.  Not surprisingly, traditional brick-and-mortar stores posted a small year over year (YOY) decline of 4 percent, while online retailers… More >>

  I just concluded a round of quarterly client meetings where I presented our Q4 2017 Look Ahead.  You should have received this during the first week of October.  However, if you didn’t, I encourage you to review it by clicking the link above.  During the course of my… More >>

  As we wrap up the Q3 2017 earnings season, I would characterize the market’s response as nothing short of “dodging a bullet.” With 91 percent of the S&P 500 companies already having reported their Q3 earnings data, the cumulative growth rate across the index has… More >>

  Last Thursday the Republican Party unveiled their latest tax plan.  I would say it’s hardly worth spending any considerable amount of time discussing in detail, as it’s not clear what’s going to withstand the onslaught of lobbyists and special interest groups jockeying… More >>

It’s hard to imagine the current positive energy surrounding the U.S. equity markets.  Over the last fifty-two weeks, the S&P 500 has increased by 19.24 percent [i]. Last year we were convinced that the markets were poised to rally--not because of Trump but because we… More >>

On a global macroeconomic level, two things are occurring simultaneously at opposite ends of the world: President Trump is in the process of selecting someone to chair the Federal Reserve, whereas, in China, the Communist Party is selecting a chair to lead China forward.… More >>

  Let’s start this week’s post with a quote from the University of Michigan Consumer Surveys’ chief economist, Richard Curtin: “Consumer sentiment surged in early October, reaching its highest level since the start of 2004. The October gain was broadly shared, occurring… More >>

  As we wrap up a stellar third-quarter investment period, it’s time for our look ahead into Q4. For an audio narration of our Q4 2017 Look Ahead, click here. For a PDF of our Q4 2017 Look Ahead, click here. Q2 earnings, which were reported from mid-July through… More >>