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In the early 2010s, the great financial crisis of 2008/09 was still on the minds of investors. That coupled with any number of other crises, including the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, multiple threatened/one actual shutdown of the Federal government, innumerable debt-ceiling-hike standoffs in Congress, and more. Investors were worried about the future. [...]
Not surprisingly, the number of reported instances of fraud, phishing schemes, and hacking tends to increase at this time of year. To encourage all of us to be vigilante and cautious, let’s review some common recommendations. Email Do Install antivirus and firewall programs AND keep them up to date! Always filter spam and update your [...]
As I am sure you are aware, the market is down over the last few weeks, and we are now approaching the lows from mid-June. The thing about down markets is that you never know you have hit the bottom until you can see it in the rear-view mirror. And the other thing about down [...]
There is a lot of talk in the media these day about a recession. We’re in a recession – we’re not in a recession – a recession is coming. So, which one is it? Technically, a recession in the United States is defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and NOT simply as [...]
I hope you all are having a great summer! Clearly the market could do more to help, but alas that is not the case. It’s amazing how quickly sentiment can change. While there were some rumblings of stormy weather late last year, the market hit six new all-time highs from mid-November until the last one [...]
Higher prices throughout the economy, higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve, and the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine make market participants quite uneasy. And with this uneasiness, the market continues its relentless dive from all-time highs in early January. We know that markets go up and markets go down and this down period will [...]
We are all quite accustomed to volatility in the equity markets, but we are also learning that economic growth can be volatile. You will surely read some scary headlines over the next few days about not just slowing growth, but an actual decline in economic activity in the first quarter of the year. This is [...]
The images coming out of Ukraine are both troubling and tragic. The U.S. and many other countries continue to increase pressure on Russia and Belarus with ever-widening sanctions. And it’s not just sanctions levied by governments, we are now beginning to hear that companies are doing what they can to isolate Russia to help bring [...]
The former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, “The bullying of small nations by big ones, the trampling of justice and decency in the pursuit of national aggrandizement, and the reckless indifference to human life, should have no place in our world.” It goes without saying that what is happening in Ukraine is horrendous and [...]
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season and that 2022 is following suit. Too bad the markets are not cooperating. What we have experienced over the last few months reminds me of a song from the early 1970s – Will it Go ‘Round in Circles? Just when we thought the [...]
