Blog Posts

  The markets are proving to be surprisingly resilient despite all the bad banking news thrown their way.  Of course, both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have all passed from this world, but it seems only a matter of time before ...

Coming into this week the thinking was that today’s payrolls report would be the big event for the week.  Ahh, but Mr. Market had other ideas.   How about a Fed Chairman banging the drum for larger rate hikes followed by the second larges...

  It’s been something of an aimless chop back and forth for the markets the last few days.  Last week both short-term and long-term rates spiked higher and stocks sold off.  This week rate volatility persisted (the 10-year briefly t...

  It was a mixed bag this week with investors pulled in different directions due to changing perceptions about inflation and what it might mean for monetary policy in the months to come.   The main indexes didn’t really do much, but th...

There was a lot to absorb this week.   Three major central bank meetings, the closely watched payrolls report, a couple other major economic reports, and earnings results from a range of companies including four of the world’s biggest.  S...

A relatively quiet news week, at least as far as the markets are concerned.  There were a couple notable earnings misses, but three topics seemed to matter at the macro level:  recession risks seem to be abating, inflation continues to co...

Market Recap   The markets have gotten off to a strong start this year, with all the main equity indexes advancing. Bond yields have also backed off a bit leading to gains for fixed income. The general theme underlying the move in both stock...

Anyway you look at it, 2022 was a tough year for investors.  It isn’t so much that stocks lost money (not that unusual).  Or even that bonds closed in the red (more unusual, but not unheard of).  It’s more that they both went down at...

Market Recap It was all about inflation and central banks this week.  As a matter of fact, most weeks this year have been all about inflation and central banks, at least when it comes to the markets.   Urrrgh. The inflation news wa...

Market Recap Investors were in holiday spirits this week with most markets posting decent gains.  The economic data was a mixed bag (like it always is!!), but Fed Chairman Powell didn’t say anything too offensive mid-week, thus, triggering a ...

  In terms of market volatility, this last week will go down in history.  It’s not often you see the S&P rally +6% in one day, the NASDAQ over +7%, and long-term bonds close to +5% (for the Vanguard Extended Duration ETF).  This...

Quite the mixed week with losses for U.S. equities offset by gains overseas.   Haven’t seen that in a while!!  There was also notable strength in energy and weakness in corporate bonds.   A lot of data to process this week, so let’s start with the...

The equity markets closed on a surprisingly robust note this week despite some high-profile earnings blowups.  Google and Amazon were hit, but Meta Platforms (the old Facebook) really stands out.   The stock was lost -25% on Thursday and is now d...

No real surprises on the economic or market front this week.  But politics was entertaining.  It’s not every year a newly installed leader of a country is ousted only weeks after taking power.  More on the mess in the U.K. shortly.   Let’s touc...

“Only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked.” This statement has been around so long it almost makes me cringe to use it. It’s attributed to Warren Buffett, but who really knows for sure? I don’t remember what I had ...

Not a lot good to say after a week like this.   Stocks, bonds, and commodities all closed in the red for the week.   About the only safe haven were U.S. dollars as currencies around the world slipped against the greenback.  For all th...