Q4 2019 Market Commentary
Is the stock market 'super-saturated'? What happens next? We explore how current policy conditions create risk, and, counterintuitively, how feelings of concern about market, social, and environmental risks can pave the way to a stronger economy and future growth.
Partners Kate Campbell King, CFP® and Brian Kozel, CFP® sat down to discuss the current state of the financial markets, the difference between trading and investing, and the power of donor-advised funds.
Q3 2019 Market Commentary
Today, there is a growing consensus that the short term in the market is becoming riskier. We don't disagree. In our latest market commentary, we look at the "lend and spend" strategy of lowering interest rates to promote economic growth.
For our Q3 mid-quarter commentary, partners Kate Campbell King, CFP® and Brian Kozel, CFP® sat down to discuss the current state of the financial markets and the firm's approach to managing client portfolios.
Q2 2019 Market Commentary
Today’s economy has been sending signals that it is in its final innings. The stock market goes up and down in price trying to discern the direction of the game.
Q1 2019 Market Commentary
FOMO is the new version of greed, and it has developed amazing velocity in our hyper-connected world of hyper-productivity. Our latest market commentary explores how instinctive thinking is affecting our financial markets.
Q4 2018 Market Commentary
Winter is often used in literature as a metaphor for difficult times and right now feels like just one of those times. The recent declines in stock prices are unsettling and lead to worry about the future.
Q3 2018 Market Commentary
We all know that risks exist, but our feeling about a particular risk is driven by our recent experience. Many investors have fallen into a false sense of diminished investment risk because of prolonged calm in the markets.
Q2 2018 Market Commentary
Trade tensions have proven quite real over the last three months and continue to dominate headlines. Market price volatility continues apace as well, affected by concerns not only about trade but also rising interest rates and energy prices.
Q1 2018 Market Commentary
Like the ebb and flow of the tide, we saw markets rush upward in January only to see them retreat back in February and March. We have also seen a few historically large single-day declines, only to see a big rebound a few days later. The primary reason given for this volatility has been broad concern about tariffs and a looming trade war with China.
Q4 2017 Market Commentary
Annually in January market predictions for the future abound. Reading the news in January is thus an exercise in incredulity – about the certainty the prognosticators declare about an inherently uncertain future.
Q3 2017 Market Commentary
Investing, like many aspects of our lives in 2017, has become global. The world has shrunk in ways that Ferdinand Magellan could never have imagined.
Q2 2017 Market Commentary
Since the Trump presidency began, we have watched the words out of Washington, DC with anxiety and rapt attention as well. There the gridlock is of a different sort. Both the House and Senate will (likely) be in recess for the month of August, but political infighting has prevented Republican lawmakers from moving forward with any sort of legislative agenda...
Q1 2017 Market Commentary
The world feels in flux. Changes at the helm of political ships at home and abroad appear to be steering in precarious directions. But, simultaneously, we’re observing a positive and growing tidal shift at various investment conferences that is bringing ESG investing to the foreground.
Q4 2016 Market Commentary
As we write to you on the eve of the 45th President of the United States taking the Oath of Office, many in this country are looking ahead with bewilderment or trepidation that the incoming President will actually keep his campaign promises. The President's supporters, however, are counting on his promise to return this country to some sort of golden era – the "good ole days".
Q3 2016 Market Commentary
Conventional wisdom tells us that, as investors, we should be focused on the long term. But what does that mean exactly: five years, ten years, longer? The answer generally is – it depends. Since "it depends" is about as satisfying of an answer as a parent saying "because I said so" we have decided to look at three underlying questions about being a long-term investor.
Q2 2016 Market Commentary
Following the referendum -- commonly referred to as ‘Brexit’ -- the global stock markets fell by roughly 5% over two dramatic days, and then recovered all of those losses as cooler heads prevailed over the next 3 days. In our view this brings two things into focus:
Q1 2016 Market Commentary
Decade after decade over the last hundred years we experienced what is now often referred to as a "normalized interest rate environment" offering a real return (beyond inflation) with very little risk of principal. You may have taken for granted at the time that cash in a money market “should” earn 3% – or even 4% to 5% – because in the thirty years leading up to the mid-2000’s, it generally did.