We have seen that commercial from Capital One with the catchy slogan, prompting us with the question “What’s in your wallet?” The message is clear and effective, and carries along a certain amount of humor to a very honest question. Today, as we witness the remarkable progress seen across...
A Not-So-Happy Last Year The just-concluded year was an unproductive one for investors of nearly all persuasions. Both stocks and bonds lost value in 2022, the result of sharp interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. The Fed was (and is) responding to a surge of inflation brought on by...
The Situation is Inflation Investment markets have continued their slog this year, and barring events entirely unexpected, both the stock and bond markets will post a down year in 2022. The story remains much the same, with inflation dominating the financial headlines, paired with a hawkish...
A Challenging Time It has been a tough year, so far, for all of us as investors. From the year’s start, the stock market has undergone a continuing selloff, and bonds have also fallen in value as interest rates have risen. As investment advisors, we are frequently asked what is driving the...
A Down Open to the Year Market Comment The year’s opening quarter was marked by a confluence of headwinds for investment markets, and some were quite unexpected. Just as the global economy was gathering vigor after nearly two years of pandemic, Russia commenced an unprovoked war of...
The Ukraine Invasion The escalating conflict over Ukraine has come to a head, as Russian forces are pouring into that sovereign country as we write. Global stock markets opened sharply down on the initial news. For the first time in over seventy years, Europeans are confronted with a major...
The Road Ahead Investment results for the just-concluded year were generally bountiful, especially when we consider that the global covid pandemic is anything but vanquished. Large US stocks again led the parade, with the S&P 500 notching a price gain of nearly 27%. Smaller companies were...
Market Commentary US equities notched a small positive return in Q3. Strong earnings had lifted stocks in a run up to August, but jitters over growth and inflation concerns late in the quarter meant US equities retraced their steps in September. September has historically tended to be the...
Stocks began this week in freefall, ending down 1.7% on Monday, though off deeper lows on the day. The prime culprit to the selloff was the liquidity woes of Evergrande, a large Chinese property development company. Evergrande is one of China’s largest property developers, with some 1,300...
Friends, Thus far, almost eight full months in, 2021 has proved to be a productive year for investing. Led by the US market, global stock market returns are broadly positive. Bond returns have been essentially flat, reflecting low interest rates across the board. We are not free of the...