Category: Weekly Investment Update

The anniversary of the 2008-09 financial crisis bottom came and went on March 9. Since early 2009, the U.S. economy has been in one of the shallowest and longest recoveries in history. The 24/7 cable news financial analysts are obviously disappointed in the lack of action. We have had neither a boom nor a bust […]

The anticipated consolidation of the post-Christmas rally got underway last week with understandable declines across the board. After a gain of 19.27% in the 41 trading days since Christmas, the S&P 500 eased 2.18%. As has been said many times before, short-term volatility is a feature of investing for growth. These and other days and […]

The S&P 500 finished the week 0.39% higher, its fifth up-week in a row and it is the ninth up-week out of the last ten. The month of February finished 2.97% higher following January’s 7.87% gain. After a string of such gains, even the bulls are expecting a pullback to, as the traders say, consolidate […]

Stocks have recovered nicely from their fourth quarter rout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up for the ninth week in a row, the longest winning streak in over twenty years. The S&P 500 was up eight of those nine weeks and now stands less than 5% from its all time high on September 20th. […]

Think back to two years ago. Do you remember the 4.5% decline over the five trading days ending February 10, 2016? This decline added to what had already been an 8.8% fall in the S&P 500 which began the previous November. Do you remember the explanations provided for the 13% decline? Do you not recall […]

We have gotten some relief from the volatile decline which ended on Christmas Eve, down 19.78% from 2018’s September 20th high. Five of the last six weeks have closed higher with Friday’s close leaving the S&P 500 up 15.12% from its holiday low but still 7.65% below the index high on September 20th. The pullback […]

For most people, a retirement plan has two stages. During one’s working years, techniques like dollar cost averaging augment the power of compounding (the reinvestment of investment income) to grow the value of financial portfolios. The retirement years, when additions to portfolios typically come to an end and distributions begin, require different planning decisions. For […]

While volatility and the possibility of a test of the recent lows are likely during the first quarter, the 2019 outlook is better than the markets seemed to be signaling in December. There is no sense in me trying to restate what Philip Orlando, CFA and Senior Vice President, Chief Equity Market Strategist and Head […]

Volatility is the price investors pay for long-term wealth creation. Markets fluctuate, sometimes wildly, and this is the reason a person should never invest funds which will be needed in the immediate future in investments which trade in volatile public markets. The definition of immediate future is a personal one, which is why it is […]

Last week, Fed Chairman Powell confirmed the Fed’s future interest rate and balance sheet reduction decisions are not predetermined. Previous Fed boards and chairs have a spotty history of setting Fed policy, so some concern is understandable but current criticism seems excessive. We believe current FOMC members are at least as smart as the majority […]