Author: Christina Michalczak

Weekly Market Commentary   The Markets The winds of uncertainty are blowing, and the waters are choppy. In recent weeks, United States stock markets saw steady gains, recovered from the April downturn as investors set aside uncertainty,” reported Connor Smith of Barron’s. Last week, investors became more cautious as they considered: Trade successes and negotiations.… Read more »

The Markets American companies did well in the first quarter. During earnings season, publicly held companies tell investors how they performed during the previous quarter with a particular focus on earnings, which reflect company profits. Currently, we’re more than halfway through earnings season, and companies in the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index have reported… Read more »

The Markets How’s everybody feeling? If you said, “Not great,” you’re not alone. There is an abundance of negative sentiment today. Many people – from consumers to small business owners, and from asset managers to investors – are feeling less optimistic. Here’s the data. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Survey’s final data for April… Read more »

The Markets As the market turns… When investor preferences shift and money flows from one sector, industry, investment style or geographic region into another, it is called a market rotation. For years, stock markets in the United States have outperformed stock markets elsewhere. “The outperformance is attributed to U.S. exceptionalism fueled by a strong culture… Read more »

The Markets All eyes on the bond market. The scale of the tariffs introduced by the administration shocked investors, sparking a roller coaster of a week for stock markets. Last week, U.S. stocks: Rallied on a rumor. Fell when the rumor was recognized as a rumor. Rose when President Trump paused reciprocal tariffs on most… Read more »

The Markets “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” The advice offered by Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If—” resonated last week. A sharp escalation in trade tensions sparked a stock market downturn despite news that the United States economy created far more jobs in March than economists had expected, reported… Read more »

The Markets Risk-on. Risk-off. If you read the financial press, you may have seen the terms “risk-on” and “risk-off”.  When investing, there is a risk-return spectrum. Stocks typically have higher risk and higher return potential than high-quality bonds. High-quality bonds have lower risk and lower return potential than stocks, although they typically have higher risk… Read more »

The Markets The market whisperer… Last week, the Federal Reserve (Fed) left the federal funds rate unchanged, and Fed Chair Jerome Powell soothed markets. He explained that conditions in the labor market were broadly in balance and inflation had eased significantly over the past two years. Overall, the possibility of recession, while rising, remained low.… Read more »

The Markets A correction and a bounce. Last week, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index moved into correction territory. The Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq) was already in a correction, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) was close, reported Paul R. LaMonica of Barron’s. A correction occurs when the value of an index drops… Read more »

The Markets What do weather and investing have in common? From 1991 to 2020, the average temperature of the United States was 54.7° Fahrenheit. Of course, that doesn’t mean the temperature in every state on every day was 54.7°F. The weather varied dramatically from place to place and month to month. The same is true… Read more »