After a rough month, the markets finally had a great week last week, ending January 17, posting the strongest weekly performance since November. The main reason for the weakness is that interest rate expectations for higher-for-longer [...]
The market has done it again. We officially have a 25% return for the S&P 500 in 2024, following a 26% return in 2023. And this is despite not getting a “Santa Claus rally” this year for which many investors were hoping. This gives us a rare feat: Back-to-back [...]
It’s been quite a year! We started 2024 with expectations for a recession, high inflation and mounting geopolitical tensions. We are ending it with a great economy, a presidential election and interest rate cuts. And somehow, through all this noise, the market [...]
A Resilient Economy Spells ‘Higher for Longer’ We have had an interesting couple weeks in the markets. First, the week of the election we had a strong market rally of close to 5% for the S&P 500 with what has been called the “Trump Trade”. The following week, we had the “Trump Fade”, as the market experienced [...]
The decisive outcome of the 2024 Presidential election and the 0.25% Fed rate cut remove uncertainty from the markets, creating space for investors to refocus on fundamentals. With the S&P 500 on track for a potential back-to-back 20% gains, it is useful to consider how rare such market performance is and the implications for investors going forward [...]
Heading into a potential year two of a 20%+ bull market, trends that may support future positive performance include supportive monetary policy from the Fed, positive corporate earnings surprises, low inflation and ongoing strong economic growth. Performance of asset classes during past rate cutting cycles are [...]