The Benefits of Staying Calm Through Market Volatility
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist September Takeaways: Inflation continued to ease with the Consumer Price Index increasing at 2.5%, down from 2.9% in the prior month The Federal Reserve (“Fed”) reduced interest rates. Mid-month, the Fed reduced its overnight interest rate by 0.5%, the first cut in over four years. Currently the market […]
Time IN the Market, Not Timing the Market
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist August Takeaways: Economic data was mixed. New jobs created in the month of July (reported in early August) were below expectations, at only 114,000, compared to expectations of 175,000. Moreover, revisions to the prior twelve months’ estimates were a combined negative 818,000, indicating that previously reported numbers were […]
Can Small Caps Catch Up?
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist July Takeaways: Small-capitalization US equities sharply outperformed. During the month of July, the S&P SmallCap 600 Index appreciated 10.8%, while the S&P 500 Index appreciated only 1.2%. Year-to-date, the larger company index is still well ahead of the small-cap index, at +16.7% vs +10.0%, but the 6.7 percentage […]
Democratizing Alternative Investments
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist June Takeaways: The Federal Reserve (“Fed”) increased its estimates of inflation, unemployment, and the longer-term Federal Funds rate, while keeping short-term rates at 5.25%-5.50%. The Fed’s quarterly Statement of Economic Projections showed an increase in participants’ expectations for 2025 Personal Consumption Expenditure Index (PCE) from 2.2% to 2.3%, […]
Artificial Intelligence – Expect Volatility Along with Growth
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist May Takeaways: The Federal Reserve kept short-term interest rates at 5.25%-5.50%, while announcing a slowing of the pace of shrinking its balance sheet holdings. This was widely anticipated with recent economic releases showing continuing inflation Equity markets rebounded. After a decline in April, most equity markets appreciated in […]
Checking in with Your 401(k)
Amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life, many of us don’t have the time or energy to monitor our 401(k) account (or other retirement plan). While too much tinkering can be problematic, the temptation to “set and forget” 401(k) funds should also be resisted. We recommend that clients perform periodic check-ins with their retirement […]
Checking in on the US Consumer
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist April Takeaways: Decent corporate earnings but muted stock price response. Based on the market’s disappointing response to strong first-quarter earnings reports, we conclude that investors were expecting even stronger results. Revenue growth and earnings growth for the first quarter of 2024 averaged between 4% and 5%, a pace […]
Will Market Breadth Spread Beyond Large Cap Stocks?
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist March Takeaways: Jobs are still strong. The US unemployment rate has remained steady at 3.9% for two months, while the US economy added 275,000 new nonfarm payroll jobs in the month of February, ahead of expectations. The labor force participation rate has been 62.5% for three months, and […]
Small Is Beautiful. Big Is Beautiful. Which Is It?
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist February Takeaways: Strong US labor market. January new nonfarm job creation was very strong at 353,000, nearly double the 185,000 estimate Inflation declines moderating. Inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index, or CPI) was a little higher than expected, at 3.1% vs. expectations of 2.9% Rate cut […]
Bitcoin – the ETF Era
By Ellen Hazen, CFA®, Chief Market Strategist January Takeaways: Q4 GDP was very strong at +3.3%. This follows +4.9% in Q3 2023, also a strong result. Current estimates are for 2024 GDP to slow fairly sharply, to between 1-2%. This anticipated deceleration in economic growth is the result of the cumulative impact of two years […]