March 2023 PDS Planning Market Commentary The bond market reached many new milestones last year, but not good ones. The Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index experienced a (-13.1%) loss due to rapidly increasing interest rates by the Federal Reserve. Last year’s (-13.1%) loss blew the previous worst calendar year return of (-2.9%) in 1994 right…
Many investors are more than ready to turn the page on a turbulent 2022. This was a tough year where inflation soared, central banks aggressively hiked interest rates, stock markets fell and war broke out in Ukraine. In 2022, core bonds did not fulfill their traditional role as a ballast against market volatility. In a…
October 2022 PDS Planning Market Commentary Volatility has certainly picked up, with 25% of all trading days so far this year experiencing declines of 1% or more. According to Bespoke Investments, the only other post-WWII years with a higher frequency were 1974 (26.6%), 2002 (28.6%), and 2008 (29.6%). Market performance has deviated far from its…
September 2022 PDS Planning Market Commentary With Labor Day passing, it brings pool season and the 2022 summer to an unofficial close. However, it also means football season is here! College football dominated the sports world with games from Thursday through Monday this past weekend and the NFL will follow up with their Rams vs.…
June 2022 PDS Planning Market Commentary JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, captured many headlines last week when he said “you’d better brace yourself for an upcoming hurricane.” He continued that “right now, it’s kind of sunny, things are doing fine, and everyone thinks the Fed can handle this. That hurricane is right out there, down…
May 2022 PDS Planning Market Commentary Inflation continues to spread throughout the entire economy and puts many, especially lower income citizens, in a difficult position. The most recent inflation data suggested an 8.5% increase compared to a year ago, which marks the highest inflation levels since the 1980’s. The core CPI, which excludes the more…
April 2022 PDS Market Commentary “There is no shortage of headwinds facing both the market and the economy: the tragic Russian invasion of Ukraine and attendant commodity/energy crisis; the Federal Reserve’s transition from accommodative to tighter monetary policy; and increased chatter of a recession on the horizon; among others,” according to Schwab’s Liz Ann Sonders.…
March 2022 PDS Market Commentary With Russia’s invasion, the world is clearly in a different position than it was at year-end. Markets were already struggling in 2022 as investors grappled with record inflation and the Federal Reserve’s plan to consistently raise interest rates, but Russia’s invasion sent shockwaves throughout markets. As of today, oil has…
February 2022 PDS Market Commentary What a difference a few weeks can make in the equity market! Many investors were feeling invincible after 2021’s strong returns, especially within large cap domestic stocks. Some maybe even fell into the mindset that markets could only go up. Reality quickly sunk in as the S&P 500 fell by…
Market Update from Kurt Brown 2022 has certainly started with a bang for the stock market… just not all on a positive note. Most of the domestic indexes were down almost -4% at one point today before finishing the day in the green as investors grappled with inflation risks, rising interest rates and geopolitical concerns…
January 2022 Market Commentary Now that 2021 has come to a close, we look forward to 2022. Many banks and investment companies release their “expert” opinions on what we should expect from the market and economy in the coming year. We note a few of them below. When it comes to “expert” opinions, please remember…
December 2021 Financial Markets Commentary “With less than a month left in what has been an extraordinary (and mystifying) year on multiple fronts, stocks have maintained a largely uninterrupted trek higher (at the index level) in the face of myriad headwinds—not least being the mid-year surge in the delta variant, supply chain disruptions on a…
November 2021 Financial Markets Commentary Shockingly, the holiday season is upon us already! We are grateful to be able to spend time with family and friends during this exciting time of the year, especially after the past 18 months. The holidays start with Halloween at our house, but how does this relate to markets and…
October 2021 Financial Markets Commentary Now that the first three quarters of 2021 are in the books, the holiday season will be here before you know it! If you are a last minute shopper, you may want to start the process earlier this year. Experts are warning of significant shipping delays. COVID exposed the downside…
September 2021 Financial Markets Commentary Despite all of the negative news and the present risks, markets have continued to climb higher. According to SPDR’s Head of Research Matthew Bartolini, we’ve seen “multiple hurricanes knocking large portions of the US off-line, increased tensions in the Middle East, softening economic data as measured by the continued decline…
