So much for the U.S.-Iran conflict being a brief, get in and get out type of affair.  Four and a half months later, the fighting continues.  But despite this and a series of on-again, off-again ceasefires, stocks staged an incredible rally in the second quarter…

2026 got off to a normal start as the financial markets focused on the economy, earnings, valuations, and the like. All that changed suddenly on February 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched a coordinated attack on Iran’s leadership, military installations, and nuclear facilities…

2025 was a great year for stocks despite having been down nearly 20% in early April due to concerns about President Trump’s tariff plans. For the S&P 500, it marked the third straight year of double-digit returns…

Knowing where to invest was much easier last spring when stocks were beaten down and investor sentiment was in the toilet. Now is another story, as the major global stock indexes have since staged an incredible rally…

If somebody was isolated from all news sources in the second quarter of 2025 and later found out that there was war in the Middle East and a volatile trade war between the U.S. and its trading partners, they would think it must have been a tough quarter for the financial markets. They would have been wrong…

The first quarter of 2025 seems like a distant memory following the fireworks that kicked off the second quarter. Looking back, stocks in the first quarter were reminiscent of two trains leaving the station in opposite directions…

If the stock market is consistent in anything, it is that it is inconsistent.  2024 was a classic example as stocks defied their historic tendency to weaken in the months leading up to a Presidential election and…

So much for pre-election jitters.  Stocks historically experience some volatility in the lead-up to elections as market participants don’t like uncertainty…

Stocks had a serious case of bad breadth in the second quarter of 2024.  On the surface, one would think stocks had a great quarter with the S&P 500 up 4.3%…

Stocks kicked off the new year just like they ended the last one, continuing their steady climb that began in late October.  At this point it would appear the Fed has achieved the unlikely and navigated a soft landing for the economy…

What a difference two months can make.  Through October, some investors were likely questioning why they invest in stocks and bonds following three months in a row of negative returns for stocks and six in a row for bonds…

After a promising first half of the year, stocks and bonds both gave up ground in the 3rd quarter. Blame can largely be cast on rising bond yields as the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond rose from 3.8% to 4.6%…

With a tip of the hat to the musician Prince, technology stocks are partying like it’s 1999.  Technology-fueled growth stock indexes continued to lead financial markets higher in the second quarter of 2023 due in part to excitement over artificial intelligence…

Despite the 2nd and 3rd largest bank failures in U.S. history, stocks and bonds logged nice gains in the first quarter of 2023…

It is said that desperate times call for desperate measures.  In response to the Covid pandemic and lockdown, on March 16, 2020 the Federal Reserve cut the Federal Funds rate to a target range of zero to 0.25%…

2022 is shaping up to be the worst year for stocks since 2008, and perhaps the worst ever for bonds. The Federal Reserve seems hellbent on turning back inflation, whatever the cost may be to the economy, and the financial markets have taken notice…

A funny thing happened last week in the financial markets. On Wednesday, July 13th, we had another sizzling inflation report showing inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index was up 9.1% last month. This was the highest reading in over forty years…

While there have been much worse quarters for the financial markets (think back to March 2020 and the coronavirus sell-off), the first quarter of 2022 was a bit of an eye opener for investors after a fairly steady climb the past two years…

Like a bear coming out of hibernation, the Federal Reserve seems to be waking up to the fact that inflation will not be transitory…

After a rough end to the third quarter, stocks have clawed back this month helped in no small part by Congress kicking the debt ceiling can down the road another two months…