Investment Commentary – January 14, 2015 Dow – 17,613.68 (1/13/15 close) (-1.18% YTD) S&P 500 – 2023.03 (1/13/15 close) (-1.75% YTD) 10-year Treasury – 1.89% (1/13/15 close) (-12.9% YTD) · Despite a strong job report last Friday, wage growth which tends to have an inverse relationship with the unemployment rate declined. This surprised the market [...]
Investment Commentary – January 7, 2015 Dow – 17,371.64 (1/6/15 close) S&P 500 – 2,002.61 (1/6/15 close) 10-year Treasury – 1.96% (1/6/15) · With another year in the books, analysts found it important to review returns in 2014. REITS were the top performers, as real estate markets around the world continued to recover. The S&P [...]
Investment Commentary – December 29, 2014 Dow – 18,038.23 (12/29/14 close) S&P 500 index – 2,090.57 (12/29/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.20% (12/29/14 close) In 2014, S&P 500 never dropped 4 days in a row. This is a sign of how relentless U.S. stocks have been in their march higher. This is the 1st calendar [...]
Investment Commentary – December 17, 2014 Dow – 17,356.87 (12/17/14 close) S&P 500 – 2012.89 (12/17/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.14% (12/17/14 close) · U.S. stocks surged today after the Federal Reserve retained the phrase “considerable time” in its policy statement, and also introduced another word, “patient,” as the central bank readies to raise interest [...]
Investment Commentary – December 10, 2014 Dow – 17,533.15 (12/10/14 close) S&P 500 – 2,026.14 (12/10/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.16% (12/10/14 close) After 4 years when oil prices routinely ran more than $100 per barrel, it seemed like high energy prices might never go away. It was getting harder to find and develop new [...]
Investment Commentary – December 3, 2014 Dow -17,879.55 (12/2/14 close) (all-time high) S&P 500 – 2,066.55 (12/2/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.29% (12/2/14) · Stock market performance has been impacted by a couple of big themes of late: Central bank stimulus overseas and the plunge in oil prices. · Last Friday OPEC took no action [...]
Investment Commentary – November 19, 2014 Dow – 17,685.73 (11/19/14 close) S&P 500 – 2,048.72 (11/19/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.35% (11/19/14 close) · The broad equity markets have remained resilient in the face of lower energy prices because it is widely understood that the falling price of oil has more to do with the [...]
Investment Commentary – November 12, 2014 Dow – 17,614.90 (11/11/14 close) (all-time high) S&P 500 – 2,039.68 (11/11/14 close) (all-time high) 10-year Treasury – 2.36% (11/11/14 close) After a strong September jobs report, the October report further confirmed that the summer weakness was probably a blip. The board of labor statistics (BLS) reported that nonfarm [...]
Investment Commentary – November 5, 2014 Dow – 17,383.84 (11/4/14 close) S&P 500 – 2,012.10 (11/4/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.34% (11/4/14 close) Republicans captured majority control of the Senate Tuesday, gaining at least 7 seats as Democrats faced strong political headwinds in midterm elections where discontent with President Obama was a decisive theme. In [...]
Investment Commentary – October 29, 2014 Dow – 17,005.75 (10/28/14 close) S&P 500 – 1,985.05 (10/28/14 close) 10-year Treasury – 2.28% (10/28/14 close) The Federal Reserve ended is QE (Quantitative easing) program today, ceasing the final $15 billion of bond purchases it had made in an effort to keep the economic recovery going. Though it [...]