In an otherwise volatile and ugly year, the fourth quarter of 2022 turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Sentiment turned optimistic mainly led by better-than-expected corporate earnings and Year-over-Year inflation rates coming down from a peak of 9.1% in…
By the end of the first quarter, it seemed as if we had gone through a much-needed correction, and we were on our way to a recovery. That theory ended quickly as the 2nd quarter turned into something much worse…
For the third consecutive year, the stock market posted a double-digit positive return. The S&P 500 gained 26.9% for the year, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted an 18.9% gain, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 21.4%. Double-Digit Returns Despite Challenges…
The market continued to surge higher as we said goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021. Additional stimulus, mass vaccinations, and hopes for a return to a fully opened economy provided a nice backdrop for the market to further its…
There is an old saying on Wall Street, “The stock market is not the economy and the economy is not the stock market.” We all got a little taste of that this past quarter when we saw a negative -4.8% GDP in the first…
Most economic slowdowns occur over time with a slow deterioration of Employment, Consumer Confidence, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Companies generally tighten their belts and the Fed and Government make monetary and fiscal policy changes to help soften the blow…
Over the weekend, oil prices dropped by about 20-30% as Saudi Arabia slashed its export oil price likely starting a price war with Russia. This spooked the markets which were already on edge with the spread of the Coronavirus. As a…
During the last week of February 2020, the S&P 500 lost 11.49% — the worst week for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis — only to jump by 4.6% on the first Monday in March.1 By all accounts, the drop was…
One year ago, the market was convinced that our economy was headed for a recession and we began 2019 on the heels of one of the worst quarterly market returns in more than a decade. This could not have been…
Few terms in personal finance are as important, or used as frequently, as "risk." Nevertheless, few terms are as imprecisely defined. Generally, when financial advisors or the media talk about investment risk, their focus is on the historical price volatility…