Monthly Market Update

Happy New Year! 2017 turned out to be one of the best years for stocks since the bull market began in March of 2009. Market advances were broad-based, as small, mid-size and large company indexes all reached new all-time highs, as did many international markets. Even long-time laggard Japan reached new multi-year highs in the […]

There’s an old stock market indicator that suggests that the direction of fund flows—money going into and out of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—is a contrarian predictor of future stock market returns. In other words, individual investors are really bad at timing and typically buy when they should be selling and sell precisely when […]

With the stock indices setting new records on what seems like a daily basis many investors find themselves wondering if this is just the calm before the next storm. It can be hard to commit to the market when many pundits are predicting the next bear market is just right around the corner. We are […]

The daily drumbeat of warnings that a bear market or crash is imminent, and one calamity or another awaits investors, reminds us to heed Samuel Clemens’s advice about herd mentality: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Investor sentiment (also known as attitude or opinion) […]

North Korea has dominated the headlines lately, with the Labor Day weekend being no exception. At just 33 years old North Korean’s leader Kim Jong-un has proven to be quite unpredictable. Luckily it’s not our job to hypothesize about what actions he’ll take and therefore what military action, if any, should be taken. Our job, […]

Stocks continued their upward march in July (both the Dow 30 and S&P 500 have recorded over 30 new highs this year). The broader-based S&P 500 has ten industry sectors among 505 component stocks. Would you believe only three of the ten sectors have outperformed the entire index return in 2017? This means the other […]

As we pass the halfway point of the year we once again wonder if the years really do fly by faster as we get older, while the kids are wondering why school seems to start earlier and earlier each year. It’s also a time for celebration though as July 4th calls for lake weekends eating […]

Here in Indy the month of May is mostly about one thing, the Indianapolis 500. As part of the auto-racing triple crown (the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans being the other two), it’s something drivers aspire to win. Winning the race, or even just finishing for that matter, requires skill and […]

Spring is officially here and it apparently brought the post-election market rally to a halt. On March 1st the S&P 500 hit an all-time high of 2,401, an 11% increase from Election Day. Since then the rally has stalled, having declined about 3% before recovering and finishing April within 20 points of the high. Much […]

U.S. stocks continued to hit all-time highs during the first quarter, as optimism is high the economy will enter a faster phase of growth. Central to this theme is the new administration and Congress will enact legislation that will spur government spending (notably defense, homeland security and infrastructure), while reforming regulations, healthcare and taxes. Nothing […]