I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. Asheville got some much-needed rain over the weekend, so it didn't really feel like the start to summer. With the bulk of first quarter earnings season behind us, I want to share what the data are telling us. The results have been notably strong—both in absolute [...]

I hope you are well and enjoying the first tastes of spring. The daffodils and redbuds are blooming here in Asheville, but the financial markets are certainly putting a damper on things. Let me take a few minutes to share my thoughts on what's happening, why, and how I'm thinking about it. The S&P 500 [...]

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season surrounded by family and friends. Amidst the festivities, I wanted to share some thoughts on the U.S. economy following the latest GDP report released this week. Despite a year marked by significant political and policy shifts, the data shows an economy that remains resilient as we head into [...]

I hope you are well as we head into what we all hope will be a beautiful fall. Here in Asheville, we recently marked one year since Hurricane Helene devastated our region. Recovery continues, and while we still have a long way to go, it's encouraging to see our community's resilience and progress over these [...]

I hope you are all well and enjoying the summer.  Asheville’s cool and rainy early summer has morphed into a hot and humid July.  As is probably the case for many of you, I’m ready for a break. Since my emails from April’s tariff-induced volatility, the market has recovered and hit a series of new [...]

April was another whirlwind of a month for markets, which were shaken to their core by the larger than anticipated reciprocal tariffs announced on April 2nd. The S&P 500 peaked with an intraday high of 5,695.31 on April 2nd, then bottomed out with an intraday low of 4,835.04 on the 7th, during which the index [...]

I hope you are all well.  Asheville is, thankfully, enjoying a beautiful spring and the recovery efforts are continuing. Much of the region is back to normal and visitors are encouraged to return to enjoy our mountains. News out yesterday: first quarter GDP (Gross Domestic Product) contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3%.  Many economists and analysts [...]

I hope you all are well, and that spring is springing in your neighborhood.  Asheville is coming along in its recovery.  Except for those hard-hit flooded areas of the region, things are mostly back to normal. What’s not normal were the market drops on Thursday and Friday. Across those two days, the S&P 500 dropped [...]

As you are likely aware, the market is down roughly 10% from recent highs. While corrections such as these are not uncommon (we get one per year on average), this one seems worse because it is linked to the heated rhetoric about U.S. trade policies, deficits, and tariffs. It is important to understand that if [...]

Spring is upon us, and I hope you all are well.   Asheville’s recovery continues although the progress is quite variable. Last fall’s storm was primarily a wind/tree event for some, a devasting flooding event for others.  Those communities that experienced flooding will take much longer to recover.  Thanks to all of you who have checked [...]