Index Performance

U.S. and International Equities

U.S. Markets Finish Lower

The U.S. major market indexes finished lower to end the first half of 2022.  Investors continue to remain concerned about the possibility of a recession amid stubbornly high inflation and tightening monetary policy worldwide. Inflation and Federal Reserve (Fed) policy will remain the major themes for the rest of this year. Moreover, Q2 earning reports will start to roll in the middle of this month, which will provide additional guidance on the direction of the economy and inflation.  This is especially important a

2022 has been rough all-around for the American consumer. Not only are we battling decades-high inflation, but investors’ portfolios are off to one of the worst starts to a year in history as we near the halfway point. Our technical work is first and foremost rooted in trend following, and the trend in both stock and bond prices so far this year have of course been down. However, one trend that has been strongly higher is energy prices. It may be early, but we see some potential signs that energy trends could be changing, which would not only have positive implications for consumers’ wallets, but also potentially investors’

As both consumers and the Federal Reserve battle persistent, rising inflation, one of the most prominent inflationary tailwinds has been broad based commodity price increases. But could that tailwind to inflation be turning into a headwind? Today we explore the commodity landscape and why the recent downturn may be a positive for equity investors.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index consists of four major subgroups: Precious Metals, Industrials Metals, Agriculture and Livestock, and Energy. For today’s blog, we’re going set aside precious metals, as gold prices have completely avoided participation in the commodities rally

The bear market that started on June 13 has left the S&P 500 Index 23.5% below its January 3 high. After the initial positive reaction to the Federal Reserve’s first 0.75% rate hike since 1994 and tough talk on inflation, heightened fears of recession and that the Fed might “break something” sent stocks down for the 10th week out of 11 for only the second time in history (The first was in 1970). To help investors manage through this difficult period, we answer some of the top questions we’re getting about bear markets and list some things to watch to assess progress toward an eventual durable low.

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