Category: Weekly Investment Update

Jason Zweig, author and investment and finance columnist for the Wall Street Journal, has written a good deal about the financial services industry. I like the summary he used at the end of one of his recent articles: “A lot of Wall Street Journal readers have told me they think hiring a financial adviser is […]

The S&P 500 finished the week at 2,675.81, another new high. Year-to-date, the index is up 19.52% and if the year had ended on Friday it would have been the 4th largest calendar year gain for the index so far in this century. If the index can at least hold onto its current month-to-date gain […]

The last 10% or greater correction experienced by the market as measured by the S&P 500 ended on February 11, 2016 with a decline of 13.31%. The index has since risen from that low point of 1,829.08 to Friday’s new high close of 2,651.50. Over that 95 week run the index is up 44.96%. Following […]

In spite of the already plentiful media commentary on Bitcoin, inquiries about the phenomenon continue to come in. Following is an abbreviated, nontechnical summary of our thoughts on the subject. In brief, if you are not already a regular user of online banking services and you do less than half of your Christmas shopping at […]

The S&P 500 Index finished the week with a close over 2,600, a new high. The 10-Year Treasury Note yield held steady at 2.33% while the yield on the 2-Year continued to edge higher and closed the week yielding 1.75%. The current economic numbers continued to display the U.S growth cycle trudging higher. Get ready […]

The lack of volatility is again being discussed as a sign of the end of the bull market. Low volatility by itself is not a danger to markets. Markets become dangerous when low volatility causes investors to become complacent. Long periods of low volatility can lull investors into becoming comfortable with typically risky assets to […]

Tax policy, interest rates, trade policies, regulatory reform, job growth, consumer spending and finance, technological transformation, and political dysfunction are potentially disruptive. Investors must continuously monitor these and other changing external variables and make corresponding adjustments to their models for the economy and securities markets. These changing variables are part of life, but change is […]

For the seventh week in a row, the S&P 500 closed at another all-time high. Bullish traders have supported their buying by pointing to what has been a good earnings season. Factset compilations note that with 55% of companies reporting, 76% of S&P 500 companies have reported positive earnings per share surprises and 67% have […]

It will be a busy week for the markets. Hundreds of companies will be releasing third quarter earning’s reports. Continued favorable news from Washington on tax reform is anticipated. On Friday, the preliminary report on third quarter Gross Domestic Product will be released. Short term interest rates have been on the rise as can be […]

Earlier this month, psychologist and economist Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics for his work in the field of behavioral economics. The study of the psychology of economics is of questionable value in the minds of many traditional economists. Economists have long struggled to have their field of study accepted as […]