Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Market Strategist Coming off of the usual post-Oscars drama, the real original screenplays kicked off mid-week with inflation numbers and a concern that 2024 is already getting too hot to handle.…
Monthly Observations Records Broken in February Strong economic data and earnings reports were supportive of a risk-on month with the S&P 500 breaking the 5000 level for the first time, surging over 5%. Even non-US…
Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Market Strategist Maybe it is because it is an election year, but we still have China on our minds. Despite the fact that China continues its decline on the global market…
Chris Kamykowski, CFA, CFP® – Head of Investment Strategy and Research Early 2024 has seen all-time highs in the equity markets seem as frequent as Taylor Swift sightings at Kansas City Chiefs’ football games. Multiple…
Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Market Strategist Better than expected. It has been a bit of a mantra for the year so far – better economic growth, better trend of inflation, a better outlook for jobs…
By Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Market Strategist “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” Lyndon B. Johnson In this election year we probably also have politics, and stump…
Download Recap PDF MONTHLY OBSERVATIONS Mixed Bag of Returns to Start 2024 On the positive side, U.S. economic data continued to point to strength in the underlying growth trajectory. That said, markets expectations for rate…
By Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Investment Strategist While the jobs numbers last week led to euphoria in markets, this week saw a little bit of buyers’ remorse – albeit selective. Earnings are on a positive…
By Aoifinn Devitt, Chief Global Investment Strategist Words matter. That part is clear. When the Federal reserve started to sprinkle the word “transitory” into its assessment of inflation from 2022 onwards they sent a clear signal.…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Global Market Strategist As the Midwest shivers through its first real cold spell of 2024 we see the realization that a another thing has gone the way of the landline…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer After a bruising 2022, 2023 was the “comeback kid” of a year. But in the fourth quarter, it seemed to defy gravity itself. All year, the rumblings of a…
Chris Kamykowski, CFA, CFP® – Head of Investment Strategy and Research Tim Side, CFA – Investment Strategist Download the PDF MONTHLY OBSERVATIONS Strange, Long Year Ends on High Note The doldrums of August-October were a…
“The problem isn’t getting rich, it’s staying sane.” -Charlie Munger[1] The current environment is rife with uncertainty. Following two seismic events, the COVID-19 pandemic and the first ground war in Europe since World War II,…
Tim Side, CFA® – Investment Strategist “From thirty years as a practicing historian, I have come to the conclusion that there is but one, singular, lesson of history. It is this — there are no permanent winners…
Tim Side, CFA® – Investment Strategist “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” -Niels Bohr[1] The current environment is rife with uncertainty. Following two seismic events, the COVID-19 pandemic and the first ground war…
Investment Team Click here to download the PDF Monthly Observations Santa Claus Rally in November? Markets rebounded with a vengeance in November after Fed comments indicated less potential for future monetary tightening which spurred a…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer We are into December and have already given “thanks” for the harvest. But this is the busiest time of year for that other kind of harvesting – of tax…
By Rick Bettger, MBA – Investment Research Analyst You might have to go all the way back to the 1980s to see a headline like the one that ran in the Wall Street Journal on…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer Here in Chicago Thanksgiving was sunny but brisk. Now it is just very brisk. It is a reminder that winter – albeit delayed – comes around after all. The…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer As the holidays approach, there is a miracle in the air. But not the usual festive kind. Consumers were already starting to expect lower inflation – and Tuesday’s CPI…
Investment Team Click here to download the PDF Monthly Observations No Calendar Effect This Time October was a challenging month for investors as both stocks and bonds fell lower. While markets initially looked through the…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer October turned out to be a little spooky after all. The month launched somewhat unsteadily, reeling from a “September effect” which did exactly what it said on the tin…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer Many of our clients have read this recent article in the Wall Street Journal and have asked us to respond. It cites the banner performance of the traditional 60/40…
By Aoifinn Devitt, CFP® – Chief Investment Officer It’s cooling down outside now, but earnings season is heating up. As expected the outlooks are looking warm and cozy, at least so far, with a wide range of…