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Monday, December 10, 2018

Global equity markets erased the impressive gains they posted the week following Thanksgiving by capturing notable downside last week. Despite the fact that U.S. equity markets traded on a shortened week in honor of President H.W....

 

Monday, December 3, 2018

This week we’d like to re-visit our recently updated educational piece on the rise of interest rates alongside equity market returns, as depicted by the 10 Year Yield and the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500. We’ve...

 

Monday, November 26, 2018

Equity market volatility remained rampant during the shortened holiday week and the catalyst stemmed from downside in the technology sector. Although most domestic equities yielded losses, the precipitous downside of major technology...

 

Monday, November 19, 2018

The week started off on a volatile note following comments from the White House that additional tariffs would be implemented on Chinese goods. In addition to such tariffs, the idea of raising the threshold on already established...

 

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The hype surrounding the midterm elections has finally subsided. The results yielded the highly anticipated outcome of a standstill Congress. Republicans control the U.S. Senate and Democrats control the House. As we gauge what this...

 

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Over the past few weeks we have discussed about the ongoing disconnect of equity market prices to the fundamental well-being of the economy. Although we know that the economy is not the equity market, the two can often complement each...

 

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Global equity markets have remained at the forefront of media attention over the past few weeks and the downside that has been evident has investors questioning the near-term outlook of equity markets. The MSCI World Equity Index, as...

 

Monday, October 22, 2018

The quarterly earnings season is once again upon us and the results, thus far, have been positive and remain to par with expectations. With nearly 20% of companies having reported earnings, with a vast majority being within the...

 

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

In this week’s weekly market commentary, we want to revisit our initial assessment of global equity markets for 2018, as addressed in late December 2017. The notion of increased upside, without the possibility for volatility, was...

 

Monday, October 8, 2018

The highly anticipated September labor market report was announced during the week and the results could not have been more debated. The economy added 134,000 private jobs last month and the report was announced with a positive net two...

 

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

The highly anticipated announcement from the Federal Reserve became a reality on Wednesday when we learned that interest rates increased by an additional 0.25%, as it relates to the interest rate controlled by the Federal Reserve...

 

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

The on-going trade discussions between the U.S. and China, as well as that of Canada, have remained important sentiment drivers for U.S. and international equity markets. In fact, the upside volatility of the dollar in 2018 has been a...

 

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Tracking the health of the consumer can be a tremendous benefit to gauging the potential for near-term economic growth and the near-term earnings capability for major U.S. companies. Data throughout the week revealed a fairly upbeat...

 

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

The highly anticipated August labor market report was announced last week and the results were significantly better than anticipated, especially as it relates to growth of hourly earnings. The economy added 204,000 private jobs for the...

 

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

The highly anticipated revision of second quarter annualized gross domestic product (GDP) growth was announced with flying colors last week. The 4.2% revision proved higher than the original announcement of 4.1% and also managed to...

 

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Record equity market highs were once again dominant in the U.S. as the domestic Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 closed above its January 2018 level. The upside comes as a positive surprise following the mild volatility in late July....

 

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

The reversal of equity market sentiment remained pronounced during the week as the downside volatility that commenced in the early part of the month was entirely erased through last Friday. The Standard & Poor’s (S&P) gained 0...

 

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Please join Edison Byzyka, Doug Lockwood, Brian Neal, and Layton Ginder for coffee and an opportunity to ask about, and discuss, the current economic landscape. Click Here to View the Invitation!

 

Monday, August 13, 2018

We concluded that the week remained quiet given the lack of major political or economic data points that could be classified as reasons for volatility. This isn’t to say that data points remained quiet. On the contrary, important...

 

Monday, August 6, 2018

Data tied to economic activity and consumer well-being proved utterly positive during the week as the economy appears to be humming along at a steady pace. We have been firm believers of economic strength over the past few years and...

 

Monday, July 30, 2018

The latest release of gross domestic product (GDP) growth was a highly anticipated and exciting event. Economists’ consensus estimates hovered around 4.2% for the second quarter annualized figure while the actual data was...

 

Monday, July 23, 2018

The threat of additional tariffs on all imported Chinese goods appeared to dominate media headlines last week as President Trump alluded to the idea. Our first impression was one of confusion as to the objective nature of this...

 

Monday, July 16, 2018

The roller coaster of politically driven sentiment appeared to take a backseat during the week as broad economic data points drove market behavior, as should always be the case. Such data was centered on inflation figures for both...

 

Monday, July 2, 2018

Downside volatility was evident across all major indices during the week as comments from the White House tied to curbing Chinese investments domestically and resulted in increased trade war concerns. More specifically, the...

 

Monday, June 25, 2018

Economic data releases remained light during the week as market sentiment was driven mainly by rhetoric tied to trade wars. The United States may be looking to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods, adding on to...

 

Monday, June 18, 2018

The highly anticipated announcement from the Federal Reserve during the week revealed that interest rates rose by 0.25%, as it relates to the Federal Funds interest rate, which is the only one controlled by the Fed. The interest rate,...

 

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The broad strength of the U.S. economy, as well as reduced negative rhetoric tied to European politics, has resulted in broad equity market gains in June. The MSCI World Equity index has gained 2.19% for the month with the vast...

 

Monday, June 4, 2018

The May 2018 labor market report was welcomed with high spirits during the week as we learned that the economy added 223,000 private jobs relative to the 190,000 expectation. Although the upside surprise is impressive, this report...

 

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Imagine this. You’re running late one morning, the kids all need handwritten notes for after school pick-up, and everyone decides they want to pack their lunch that very morning. If you happen to know me, you know that running...

 

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Leading Indiana and Michigan financial firms join forces for the future. Hefty Wealth Partners and Oak Point Wealth Management announce the completion of their successful merger, and are excited to reveal the new company name: Credent...

 

Thursday, March 22, 2018

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.” – Warren Buffet Appropriate balance sheet analysis is a crucial step in formulating the investable individual equity landscape for the...

 

Thursday, March 22, 2018

The chart below is a continuation from our 2014 series and tracks the 10-year rolling annualized returns of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index. Each year represents returns from the previous ten years and it includes the year...

 

Thursday, March 22, 2018

A modest 2% inflation can severely lower the value of your assets over the long-term. Higher equity exposure over longer market cycles has historically been an effective way to combat the risk of inflation. Internally, we envision a...

 

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Sociology was one of my favorite courses in college. Not only did my professor make the topic intriguing but the overall study of sociology possessed a balanced understanding of how people should act relative to how they actually act....

 

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

The concepts of risk and uncertainty are often mistakenly intertwined across financial media and across the financial services industry. The difference between the two, however, cannot be more drastic. Uncertainty falls in the category...

 

Friday, March 16, 2018

Politics and inflation expectations dominated financial media headlines during the week. The highly anticipated inflation reading failed to notably stir fear across market participants as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was announced at...

 

Friday, March 9, 2018

Global equity markets surged last week as news tied to the labor market proved utterly optimistic. The U.S. economy added 313,000 private sector jobs in February and the report revealed an upward two month revision of 54,000 jobs from...

 

Friday, March 2, 2018

Volatility remained decisive throughout the week and was largely attributed to comments from the new Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, as well as the announcement from President Trump concerning tariffs on imported steel. As it...

 

Friday, February 23, 2018

Global equity markets remained largely upbeat during the week as positive sentiment appeared to push prices higher, albeit modestly. Emerging markets remained at the forefront with a gain of 1.42%, as depicted by the MSCI EM Index....

 

Friday, February 16, 2018

Global equity markets surged with a vengeance during the week and eased fears that further downside would continue in the immediate short-term. The gains appeared fairly broad based and were met with impressive flows from institutional...

 

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Annual Volatility volatility is almost always associated with losing value. Although that’s true for those investors that willfully liquidate their holdings, long-term investors have historically seen tremendous benefits from...

 

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Increasingly Optimistic Wage growth remains in our top spot for 2018, similar to our 2017 stance. As the labor market further matures and as the supply for skilled labor dwindles lower, hourly earnings may see further upside pressure....