Welcome to our October 2024 Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others.
October 2020 Financial Markets Summary Emotions are running high around the country with the upcoming election. Many are wondering how this will impact financial markets. The reality is elections come and go and things don’t tend to change too much. The status quo normally prevails. The world will continue to turn and Apple will continue…
September 2020 Financial Markets Summary The S&P 500 Index has historically been one of the best representations of the United States stock market. This is a market capitalization weighted index of 500 large companies in the U.S. Market capitalization weighted is a technical term meaning the larger the company, the larger the respective company weighting…
Historical Stock Market Returns As we approach the halfway mark of 2020, it’s hard to believe the stock market (S&P 500) is down only 7% year to date. We saw a run of 5% through the first almost two months before entering the quickest bear market in history. From the market peak in February to…
May 2020 Financial Markets Summary April was a strong month for markets (in fact, the best month since January 1987) as the number of new COVID-19 cases started to plateau, prospects of a potential vaccine improved and plans to reopen economies were laid out. However, we wanted to look at this through a longer-term perspective. …
January 2020 Financial Markets Summary As we turn the page to 2020, let’s pause to review this eventful past decade. Domestic stock markets performed quite well coming off the depths of the financial crisis. According to Goldman Sachs, the trailing 10-year annual return for the S&P 500 ranked in the 94th percentile of all…
Welcome to Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Economic and Investment News Bits Fast Start: A 60% U.S. stock and 40%…
Here is the link to our 4th Quarter Investment Webcast! The 4th quarter was especially difficult for markets, but we focused the brief discussion on the rationale behind the recent volatility and our outlook for 2019. Please click the link below for our thoughts on these timely topics. Please note, the opening screen shows “There…
January 2019 Financial Markets Summary Now that we have closed the book to 2018, let’s pause to review the year and potential outlook for 2019. The fourth quarter, and especially December, came under real pressure as the Federal Reserve continued increasing interest rates, trade frictions with China escalated and investors focused on global growth concerns. …
December 2018 Financial Markets Summary $1.99, $1.94, $1.98 gasoline prices at the pump! Did we just flashback to the early 2000’s? These low prices are the result of oil’s 33% plummet in just the past two months. Nevertheless, this seems to be a nice early gift for this holiday season! If these low prices persist,…
Welcome to Viewpoints, a monthly bulletin from PDS Planning to our valued clients and friends. Our goal with each issue of Viewpoints is to provide you with a wide variety of perspectives on life and wealth. Feel free to share with others. Economic and Investment News Bits Gridlock is Good?: Over the last 80 years,…
November 2018 Financial Markets Summary October was a brutal month for markets around the globe with concerns about global growth, escalating trade tensions, rising interest rates and the upcoming mid-term elections. Domestic stocks faced pressure with the S&P 500 down almost -7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average almost -5% and small cap stocks nearly -11%…
Here is the link to our 3rd Quarter Investment Webcast! This quarterly call started with a review of the asset class returns for the year. We focused most of the discussion on the current spike in volatility and the potential causes for this recent change. We also reviewed the historical relationship between domestic stock markets…
Good evening, I thought we would provide a quick update on today’s market move before heading home for the day. In case you haven’t seen it yet, domestic stock markets were down on average 3-4% today. The media will overemphasize the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 831 point loss in attempt to play on your emotions,…
March 2018 Financial Markets Summary The month of February was a sharp contrast to what we experienced in 2017. Volatility has reared its ugly head as investors became concerned about rising inflation and interest rates. 2017 was a unique year where markets experienced very little volatility, or sharp movements, in either direction. The market just…
