All but ignoring the global pandemic, for the third year in a row global stocks saw a double-digit gain, once again powered by U.S. stocks. After two years of high single-digit gains, though, the domestic investment-grade bond market turned in a loss. After a close first half, domestic equities powered away from their global peers. […]
While it’s true that we fancy smaller, less-expensive and more profitable companies, those preferences have not been shared among the bulk of investors over the past decade. With relative performance as testament to that fact, investors have been rather more interested in pulling forward the longer-term potential of growthier names. But history generally has been […]
Podcast: Play in new window
Fresh variation in the COVID-19 virus spooked investors over the Thanksgiving holiday. Fears of the virus rather quickly gave ways to fears of missing out on further market gains, then turned about again. The u-turns brought these tenets to mind: Even if not presently expressed, investment risk is always present. That is, if for no […]
Podcast: Play in new window
When something new comes along in Finance, it can be fun to watch market participants line up to present themselves as experts, quick to provide “insight” into what the future will hold. Over the past few weeks, voluminous ink has been spilt over the confluence of rising inflation and nascent digital currencies, both of which […]
Podcast: Play in new window
Equity returns over the past year still pretty stellar, even without the initial rebound from the bottom of the COVID-19 crisis last March. Bonds have had a more sorrowful time of it, though, as the confidence that drove the rebound in stocks also provided a boost to interest rates. Developed-market stocks—both domestic and abroad—traded in […]
Each spring, we hear echoes of a favorite line among many market watchers: the months of May through October have proved the worst of all in terms of return for U.S. investors, so better to watch out. Perhaps even cut and run. Among other such compartmentalizations of historical returns, the goal presumably is to show […]
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Financial and social media can leave investors with an overpowering feeling that there’s something missing in their portfolios. Our approach seeks in many ways to counter those pressures. And there actually are many oft-championed exposures that we purposely leave out of our portfolios. While the motivations of this approach are many, the primary rationale is […]
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On July 19, late-day headlines spoke of “carnage” during that day’s equity market “rout”. “Plunging” indexes prompted scary thoughts of impending market doom. And an evening walk around the neighborhood confirmed the locals heard those scary messages loudly and clearly. In truth, U.S. stock market had dropped only 1.5%. Next day, that same market proceeded […]
Podcast: Play in new window
Still surging from the pandemic bottom, global stocks continued a run that followed last fall’s pandemic resurgence. After struggling in the first quarter as rates generally rose on account of expectations for increased growth (and potentially excess inflation), bonds regained some of that ground lost as inflation fears subsided (a bit). After leading the pack […]
