Now What?

Now What? We seem to have averted disaster from Japan, at least for a while, but the tide may have turned on the Tech rally. It’s been an interesting two week, to say the least. The stock market can’t seem to make up its mind whether it wants to continue the rally or take a […]
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Flip the Script

Flip the Script In the words of Ron Burgundy (“Anchorman”): “Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that really got out of hand fast.” The soft-landing theme was fun while it lasted, but that script got flipped in a hurry by a series of weaker than expected economic data. The ISM (Institute fro Supply Management) manufacturing […]
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Not So Fast!

Not So Fast! The rate cut train was building momentum when a strong 2Q GDP report hit and stopped that train in its tracks. The stock market was already on edge as the early earnings reports, including the tech sector, have either not been up to par, or simply failed to impress. The earnings bar […]
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Don’t Jump to Conclusions

Don’t Jump to Conclusions Friday’s IT blackout was another great lesson from the school of ‘You Never Know What’s Going to Happen Next’. Surprises happen all the time, but despite that fact, there are a lot of assumptions about the future embedded in the market today. Some of the big ones are: The economy is […]
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Extremes

Extremes The Billy Joel channel is back on Sirius XM this month (channel 79, if you care) and it has become my go to channel in the car. Thursday, on my way home, they played “I go to Extremes” and I couldn’t help but think about the stock market. Markets tend to go to extremes, […]
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Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact The past month has been a period of “sudden impacts”, both politically and economically. Over the next several months, both should reach some resolution. Politics and Markets Everyone has their opinion of the political situation in the US, most of which are not especially positive. We always try to avoid politics, but the […]
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Set it, But Don’t Forget It

Set it, But Don’t Forget It Most 401ks (and 403bs) are structured to funnel participants into indexed funds. The goal is to push them into a ‘no think’, diversified portfolio, often designed to alter the mix of stocks and bonds automatically as they age. While interest rates came crashing down, the strategy looked like pure […]
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