A quote by the celebrated fund manager Sir John Templeton states, “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria.” Investors are anxious right now, and it’s understandable.2022 – An Uncommon Year Now, rattled by Russia and China, battling rising costs and a potential recession, one must ask: When will the bear market end? While …
Inflation Inflation is north of 8% and unemployment is 3.6%. The last time inflation went above 8% and unemployment went below 4% was 1951. The last time the U.S. saw a combination of high inflation and low unemployment like today’s was seven decades ago. That makes it particularly challenging for the Federal Reserve to curb inflation while avoiding a recession. …
Markets The Fed is using tools to bring excess demand into better balance w/ constrained supply. It will be challenging to remove accommodation to get inflation under control while sustaining healthy labor market conditions. Some of the issues weighing heavier for the markets last week were: the Fed policy, Russia, China’s new lockdowns and growth slowing.Highlights Dow suffers longest losing …
In its most basic form, annuities are insurance that provides an income stream either for a fixed period of time or for the rest of your life. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? The trouble is that annuities are often sold and not bought. Consumers are pushed into ill-fitting products because that’s what the broker is selling that month. When shopping for …
Stocks With ~69% of S&P 500 companies having reported (through Thursday of last week), Q1 earnings had grown by more than 10%. In April, the DJIA was down 4.9%, S&P 500 was down 8.8%, and Nasdaq dropped 13.3%. These were the biggest monthly declines since March 2020 for the DJIA and S&P, and the largest for the Nasdaq since Oct. …
Four years ago, I decided to create an investment firm to answer the questions my clients had always been asking: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘄𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸? Today I celebrate success with my clients and staff who believed in me and my vision for a better investment strategy. Today, I celebrate the American dream that is not …
Stocks Earnings growth for the year is predicted to be 9.8% (up from 7.1% at start of year). Since 1980, the market has been down through April for the last 15 years. The average May through September return in those years is -1.5% vs. +8% in the other years. Highlights Net profit margins are expected to be 12.1%, above the …
We wanted to have a little friendly competition this year for March Madness. Wow, the last few weeks have really lived up to its name with plenty of upsets and impressive runs by lower-seeded teams. Congratulations to Chris Johnson for snagging the number one spot in this year’s March Madness Bracket. His winnings?! A beer, steak, and this awesome fake …
Stocks The stock market has had significant recovery. The S&P was down 13% at one point this year, but recovered to ~4.9% in Q1. Data continues to show an inflation problem along with supply chains challenges (including China).Highlights 8 of last 11 tightening cycles have led to recession With inflation so high, this tightening will be aggressive Wages aren’t keeping …
Stocks Volatility in markets has become the norm this month as investors struggle to forecast economic growth and corporate profitability amid high inflation, rising interest rates from central banks around the world, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and ongoing lockdowns to combat Covid-19 in China. There’s a tremendous amount of uncertainty, but bad situations are not getingg worse so we can …
