February 18, 2025: Stocks continued to climb the wall of worry last week and shrugged off tariff headlines, inflation volatility, and signs of a slowdown in retail spending. President Trump reinstated a full 25% tariff on all steel imports — effectively closing any loophol...

February 10, 2025: Use of the terms “bull” and “bear” in financial markets can be traced back to London’s financial district in the late 19th century, used as an analogy for how each animal attacks; the bull thrusts its horns upwards, and a bear swipes its paws dow...

February 4, 2025: Over the weekend, President Trump unveiled a new set of tariffs targeting goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China. The new policy included a 25% tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico, with the exception of Canadian fuel imports, which faced a ...

February 3, 2025: With China’s DeepSeek pressuring investors to take a closer look at the current environment of artificial intelligence (AI) development within the U.S., some are taking a moment to question the accuracy of a much larger idea — American Exceptionalism. E...

January 27, 2025: The Federal Reserve (Fed) cut interest rates last September and, to date, the central bank has lowered rates by 1%. But over the same period, long-term Treasury yields are higher by 1% (per the 10-year Treasury yield). Does that mean bond investors are worr...

January 21, 2025: Earnings season is underway and, thanks to the banks, it’s off to a good start. Currently, consensus estimates are calling for a strong 12% year-over-year increase in S&P 500 earnings per share (EPS) for the fourth quarter of 2024. Steady economic growth ...

January 13, 2025: As the new year officially gets underway, there’s the usual sense of renewed optimism and excitement over new opportunities. However, recent stock market activity is casting a shadow over this sentiment. Momentum in equity markets has recently stalled, an...

January 6, 2025: With 2024 fully behind us, it’s a good time to celebrate our winning calls from last year while also reviewing some mistakes to learn from them and improve our process. The good news is we got more right than wrong last year, but there were some misses. So...

December 30, 2024: As 2024 draws to a close, investors have fully embraced the stock market. The S&P 500 is up more than 25% year to date. The broader Russell 3000 Index is up 24%. The Nasdaq Composite is up over 31%. Even the laggards are up double-digits with 12% and 14% a...

December 23, 2024: The Federal Reserve (Fed) is moving more cautiously in adjusting policy, and markets might have a hard time resetting expectations. Throughout the latest press conference with Fed Chair Jerome Powell, equity markets declined as investors were befuddled wit...

December 16, 2024: To say the U.S. economy has been difficult to read is an understatement. From generationally high inflation and interest rates to concerns about the labor market, it’s no wonder consumers are unsure about the overall health of the economy. In fact, in Ju...

December 9, 2024: Before getting to the markets, let’s set the stage with some of our expectations for the economic environment in 2025. We expect the following: Slowing growth, not recession. Consumer spending will likely moderate in 2025, while pent-up demand for capital...