Newsletters

August 2015: Monthly Investment Review

The beginning of August was normal enough. At the time, the S&P 500 was up just over 2% for the year, having traded in a relatively tight band through the first seven months. During the first week, the Labor Department reported what has become a familiar refrain all year: solid jobs growth and an improving or stable unemployment rate accompanied by stubborn wage growth. Read more

July 2015: Monthly Investment Review

In France, every July brings with it a 21-day bicycle race that has encircled the country almost every year since 1903. This year’s Tour de France was won by Chris Froome of Great Britain’s Team Sky. For over 2,100 miles he out-pedaled Columbia’s Nairo Quintana by just one minute and twelve seconds in one of the most closely contested races in the last five years. What’s interesting is how Froome did it. Read more

June 2015: Monthly Investment Review

The month of June brought the second quarter and the first half of 2015 to a close, and so far this year has been a tale of two markets. The first quarter was marked with a rising dollar, a soaring Chinese stock market, GDP contraction in the U.S. and collapsing interest rates that sent yields on several European fixed income securities into negative territory. Read more

May 2015: Monthly Investment Review

May was a month of mixed economic signals that seemed to confuse the equity markets. Several U.S. indexes touched all-time highs before sputtering into the end of the month with a selloff. Despite this, most indexes still finished the month higher. Read more

April 2015: Monthly Investment Review

Over the last few days of April, the sporting world turned much of its attention on Chicago where 256 college hopefuls were drafted by teams in the National Football League. Read more

March 2015: Monthly Investment Review

March brought the first quarter of 2015 to a close. During the period, the S&P 500 rose 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved 0.8% higher. Read more

February 2015: Monthly Investment Review

In August 1958, writers and artists at DC Comics introduced the character Bizarro, first in the #68 issue of Superboy and later in the comic strip running daily in newspapers. Bizarro was the mirror image of Superman. Read more

January 2015: Monthly Investment Review

Anyone expecting to ease into the New Year got an abrupt wakeup call right out of the gate. The first full week witnessed the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting triple-digit moves on all five days. Read more

December 2014: Proving the Experts Wrong…Again

2014 was a year that many in the business of financial forecasting would like to forget. While the equity markets made several industry professionals look good, other areas did not. Read more

November 2014: A Month for the Record Books

The label of “Black Friday” for the day following Thanksgiving has confusing roots. Some swear it refers to the day when retailers transition from losing money to turning a profit, thus moving into “the black” from an accounting standpoint. Read more

October 2014: A Tale of Two Fortnights

Almost everyone has heard Mark Twain’s quote where he proclaims October “one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks” along with “July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, Augus, and February.” Read more

September 2014: Bad Reputations Are Hard to Shake

September is an infamous month for market performance even though this year marked only the third time in the past decade where the S&P 500 posted a loss. Read more

August 2014: After Brief Pullback, Markets Roar Forward in August

If any investors needed more proof that attempting to time the financial markets in the short run is a bad idea, August 2014 served as valuable evidence. Read more

July 2014: Time For A Correction?

For 32 months, the S&P 500 has rallied without a single 10 percent price correction. This current stretch qualifies as the fifth longest in history, and has many pundits clamoring that the odds for an inevitable correction increase every day. Read more

June 2014: Investments Steadily Rise as Volatility Vanishes

We’re halfway home. As we cross the threshold into the second half of 2014, now seems as good a time as any to reflect on how things have panned out so far this year. Read more

May 2014: Markets Sneak Higher in May

Here’s to hoping you didn't follow the silly advice to “Sell in May and Go Away,” last month. One would need to dig deep to find an area of the financial markets where that strategy would've produced favorable results. Read more

April 2014: Tide Shifts in April

Much remained the same in April for the financial markets. Interest rates mostly held steady, and the S&P 500 finished a mere 0.62 percent higher than where it started the month. Read more

March 2014: After Q1, Score Remains Tied

The perennial battle between the financial market bulls and bears is off to a fierce battle to begin this year. Read more

February 2014: Fundamentals Take Back Control

While the financial markets have been mostly plagued with uncertainty and wild fluctuations the past several years, we believe... Read more

January 2014: Remembering Our ABC’s

Financial markets have started off 2014 in surprising fashion. The best way to describe the month of January is to compare it to a 60 degree day in the middle of July. Read more

December 2013: Stocks Sprint through Finish Line

Sadly for investors that owned stocks in 2013, the year is officially in the books. A year in which the S&P 500 rallied 30 percent... Read more

November 2013: Tapering Scary for Bonds, Not so Much for Stocks

When the meeting minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting were released on November 20th at 2 pm EST, investors reacted as if someone had spotted Godzilla. Read more

October 2013: All Clear until February

Investors cheered a government deal last month that averted catastrophe and suspended the U.S. debt ceiling until February 7, 2014. According to The New York Times, there will actually be no limit to the amount of debt the U.S. Treasury can issue until that date early next year. Read more

September 2013: Keeping Up With the Congressional’s

Move over Kardashian’s, there’s a new drama hitting the airwaves this month. With all of the production coming from Washington D.C., we’re suspiciously speculating that the only logical explanation to what’s happening in our nation’s capitol is... Read more

August 2013: Fed, Syria Concerns Bomb Stocks in August

Heading into Memorial Day this year, the S&P 500 had already gained 15 percent in 2013 and was on pace for one of the best years in history. Read more

July 2013: Stocks Soar Higher

The massive stock market rally of 2013 swelled larger last month, as demonstrated by the S&P 500 notching a gain of 5.7 percent from the end of June through August 6th, adding to what has already been a rewarding year for equity investors. Read more

June 2013: Investors Throw a "Taper Tantrum"

We knew it was coming eventually, but not many people were expecting it this soon. Ben Bernanke doused investors with cold water following the June Federal Open Market Committee meeting as he ever so slightly changed the language of his statements... Read more

May 2013: The Bad News Rally

What do a sluggish U.S. economy, mediocre earnings, slowing growth in China, a recession in the world’s third largest economic region, a pedestrian U.S. employment environment, and record government debt levels have in common? Read more 

April 2013: Caution - Speed Bumps Ahead

Is there a more annoying sign in the world? Nobody likes driving over speed bumps. Even though we know they serve a legitimate purpose of slowing down vehicles in pedestrian areas, they’re still irritating, especially when you’re driving in unfamiliar territory. Read more 

March 2013: Back to the Future

We’re back. It’s been a long and bumpy road back, but the stock market has once-again achieved a new all-time high. Investor funds are flowing back into the stock market and for the first time in quite some time, more investors are apparently more optimistic. Read more 

February 2013: These Are Wonder-Awful Times

The market has been wonderful. The economy has been awful. This investment climate is wonder-awful. Despite limping to the finish line by closing out the month of May with two consecutive weeks of 1 percent or more declines, the S&P 500 still added another 2 percent in May to what has been a strong start to 2013. Read more

January 2013: Are Stocks Back in Style?

The decade of the 90s is resurfacing back into pop culture. In the fashion world people who aren’t lumberjacks are wearing plaid again, Stallone and Schwarzenegger have returned to the box office, the 49ers played in the Super Bowl, and apparently stocks also are becoming popular. Read more