Category: Weekly Investment Update

Last week, we wrote about analysts’ expectations for the economy for the next twelve to eighteen months. Inflation is expected to hold at 2.0% to 2.5% for the full year. The Federal Reserve’s well-advertised plan for short-term interest rates is to raise the Fed Fund rate (the rate at which financial institutions lend to one […]

In aggregate, buyers were more anxious than sellers last week. Fears of rapid acceleration in the rate of inflation temporarily faded. This likely reduced the fear of an immediate large increase in interest rates. With renewed expectations that the 10-Year Treasury yield will remain well under the 4% to 5% range, stocks again seemed the […]

There are few sources of enduring investment truths as dependable as Warren Buffett. Last week’s update pointed out the necessity of identifying the different risks associated with the varying time horizons a portfolio might have. The main point was, in a long term portfolio, the risk of the compounding loss of purchasing power as a […]

Why are there bonds in my portfolio? Over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway released its 2017 annual report along with Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders. One section of Mr. Buffett’s letter addressed the risk in owning bonds and has folks questioning diversification. Investing is an activity in which consumption today is foregone in an attempt […]

As of Friday, 80% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported fourth quarter 2017 results. The blended earnings growth rate for the quarter has been 15.2% year-over-year and is the highest reported since 2011. FactSet reports 2018 earnings per share growth estimates have increased by 7%. In addition, from Dec. 31 through Feb. 15, […]

Historically, 10% stock market pullbacks are annual occurrences. Aside from some interesting intraday fireworks due to automated trading and the implosion of various derivatives created to track market volatility, the last several weeks have not been unusual. The financial media, whose main incentive is to generate revenue from advertising dollars, wants readers and viewers to […]

The economic reports for the week were overwhelmingly positive. The Fed decided to hold rates at current levels for the time being and confirmed its previously stated intent to raise short term rates slightly and gradually as the year progresses. Market interest rates responded to the continued strength by rising. Interest rate markets are beginning […]

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week at 26,616.71, up over 20,000 points from its great recession low of 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009. The S&P 500 closed Friday at 2,872.87, up almost 2,200 points from its March 9, 2009 close of 676.53. The S&P 500 closed up 1.18% on Friday, the first day […]

The ability to recharacterize (lookback and undo) the conversion of a Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA no longer exists. Beginning in 2018 with Roth conversions, the one popular technique will no longer be available. Paul Fowler covers the details in a new post, Retirement planning after tax reform. On The One Hand Industrial production […]

Following is a snapshot of the total returns for various asset classes for the year 2017. Among widely followed commodities, gold, at $1,305.50 per ounce was up 13% for the year and West Texas intermediate crude oil was up 12% at $60.42 per barrel. The Weekly Update will not be published for the next two […]