Remote Work Notification We are writing to inform you of the steps we are taking at Ascent to maintain smooth operations while safeguarding our clients and our communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. As our New York State-based clients may be aware, yesterday the Governor’s office issued...
We wanted to share a note of optimism during what has been a significant national moment, and a significant stock market decline. Anyone who has invested for more than a few years has experienced drawdowns in their stock portfolio; it is a natural part of investing. What has been disconcerting...
The week just past was a volatile one, with wide daily swings in the stock market, but the S&P 500 actually managed a small gain on the week. Not so today, which has seen a broad and sharp selloff in stock markets worldwide, and a continued, historic, drop in interest rates here in the US....
Stock markets took a pummeling last week from investor fears regarding the coronavirus. Following all-time highs set only a few short weeks prior, market averages finished deeply in the red last week, capping a seven-day stretch of declines. The S&P 500 finished last week with a year...
Coronavirus fears took a toll on investors today, with a sharp selloff in European stock markets that spread to the US open. Markets in Germany and France closed down about 4% today, and the US is faring only slightly better. At its lows, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed over 1,000...
To the delight of investors, 2019 marked a solid year in markets around the world, with strong equity and fixed income returns, paired with relatively modest volatility. Led by the technology sector, US stocks put in another robust showing, with the S&P 500 gaining 28.9% on a price basis,...
Boeing shares are widely held among Ascent portfolios, most notably in our dividend-focused investment strategy. They have been under pressure for the last month, following the crash of an Ethiopian Air flight using Boeing’s 737 Max 8 variant. This crash is the second in seven months with this...
Investment markets endured a challenging year in 2018, with losses concentrated in a volatile fourth quarter. With very few exceptions, asset markets posted negative returns across the board—in domestic and international stocks, in bonds, and even gold. With a total return loss of 4.4% for the...
In our last commentary on the market in mid-October (“Volatility Returns”), we noted the swift pullback in stock prices that had begun two weeks prior. The downward pressure on prices has continued, and we find ourselves firmly in a stock market correction, defined as the market being off 10%...
Rising interest rates, and trade tensions between U.S. and China, are the prime drivers of market softness ● The current pullback is confined mostly to stocks; we are not seeing stresses in other asset markets, especially credit ● The near-term future looks less predictable, and volatility is...