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The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was the dominant story during the last quarter. Several other relatively small banks showed signs of distress, which shook markets. The Federal Reserve (Fed) stepped up and injected significant amounts of cash into the banking system to help counter any “run on the bank” contagion. It was a successful maneuver.

The year 2022 was certainly a year to forget in investment markets.  Throughout the course of the year, stock markets experienced steep declines, as well as several powerful “buy the dip” rallies.  This behavior is consistent with past corrections from bubble level valuations.  The S&P 500 index, representing large US companies, ended the year with a powerful rall

When I was in business school, we learned about the fundamentals of accounting to be able to measure the health of a company and to determine its current value.  In more advanced courses, we learned how to make financial projections and we studied ways to optimize our decision-making based on these estimates.  With the advent of powerful computers, and now even artificial intelligence

You have no doubt heard of the sixteenth century prognosticator known as Nostradamus.  His long record of exceptionally vague predictions has taken on a life of its own and he has been credited with predicting centuries worth of historical events.  Often, his words can be twisted into a pretzel to make some conspiracy theory seem credible.  A modern fol

As you might imagine, it has been a pretty intense five months as an investment advisor representative.  Oddly enough, I’m feeling old these days, despite only being forty-four, as I remember the many times I’ve experienced bear markets in my career.  At each of the past bear markets, I recall stories from other veteran advisors about how this time was unprecedented in the

Market Recap

Market Recap

Market Recap

Stocks around the globe continued to surge in the second quarter.  The U.S and developed international markets led the way, with the S&P 500 Index gaining 8.5% and developed international stocks rising 5.7%.  Emerging-market stocks trailed in terms of progress on the COVID-19 front and in turn rose by a more modest 4.9%.  In bond markets, the 10-year Treasury bond prices

Boredom, Margin, SPACs, NFTs and Retirement