January saw an increase in volatility, as geopolitical tensions centered around tariffs and the Trump administration’s increasing bellicosity about Greenland made headlines. The S&P 500 eked out a 1.45% positive return, keeping a three-year winning streak alive. The Fed held rates steady at the January meeting, and Kevin Warsh, President Trump’s pick to replace Jerome [...]
December Recap and January Outlook The weekend after a mid-week New Year’s Eve is usually a slow news cycle. Not this year. 2026 started off with the announcement that the Trump administration had captured Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela. The United States government’s disapproval of Maduro’s regime goes back to the Biden administration, and [...]
We are finally seeing lower interest, even if the path downward has been slow and somewhat sporadic. Both consumer and business confidence is lower than it has been, but overall the economy looks likely to remain in good shape, with the threat of recession lower than it has been. How can business owners plan for [...]
November Recap and December Outlook The shutdown is over, but it’s taking time to get the data flowing again. September data will likely be available in early December, and October will be combined with November on a mid-December release. The Federal Reserve wraps up the year with an early December meeting, at which consensus expectations [...]
October Recap and November Outlook The fourth quarter has seen the longest government shut down on record, and an election cycle that would seem to reflect some voter dissatisfaction with the status quo. The shutdown has paused official government data sources, but the economy appears to be holding up just fine, and even if consumer [...]
September Recap and October Outlook If you’re wondering how these market shifts might affect your portfolio, our Investment Advisor services can help align your strategy with today’s changing conditions. After a pause in interest rate cuts since the last cut at the December 2024 FOMC meeting, the Federal Reserve finally reduced rates by 25 basis [...]
August Recap and September Outlook An extremely low jobs report for August, released in the first week of September, focused all attention on the jobs market. The real shock wasn’t the low number of jobs created, it was the revisions to prior months that resulted in a negative 13,000 jobs in June. This marked the [...]
The signature Republican megalegislation has a very appropriate nomenclature, as it combines taxing and spending across a broad range of issues. While the ultimate cost of the bill and the political agenda items that the bill was developed to address may be up for discussion and debate, the impact on taxpayers across the financial journey [...]
July Recap and August Outlook The hot days of high summer are usually regarded as the “silly season” because, lacking important news, the media tends to look for trivial material that will capture viewers. Not this year. July saw an unrelenting spate of tariff news, shock firings of high-profile government personnel, the President feuding with [...]
June Recap and July Outlook June saw a further complication of the macro situation as U.S. military involvement in Iran was added to ongoing tariff confusion and a worsening of the economic outlook for the balance of 2025 and into 2026. The announcement that a new Fed Chairperson would soon be named essentially created a [...]
Stay In Touch