By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Plenty of opportunities this week to hear what the Fed is thinking. There are multiple Fed speakers on the docket highlighted by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s appearance on Tuesday (May 17)...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Many stock market media outlets have recently described how the S&P 500 Index (SPX) narrowly missed entering a bear market at its low last week. Those claims are based on the misguided notion that, until prices...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President A single word sums up the markets last week – wild. The busiest week of the 2nd quarter earnings season, several headline worthy employment figures released, and a Federal Reserve...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch In terms of economic data, inflation will be front and center this week with CPI released on Wednesday and PPI on Thursday. CPI is expected to ease slightly with the overall reading up...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer - Benjamin F. Edwards, discusses the Fed Rate Hike announcement for May 4, 2022.
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch This will be a busy week with the biggest focus on the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Futures are currently pricing a 50 basis points (bps) increase in the target Fed funds...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President I recently flew to California for a company event. Fortunately, I was able to get a non-stop flight. Unfortunately, that meant four hours with my only sustenance being a little bag of chips and a small cup of soda. As...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Jack Kraft, CFA, Advisor Directed Portfolio Analyst U.S. stocks tumbled lower in a volatile week of trading as investors digested key economic updates, earnings reports, and commentary from the Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 began the week on a...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch This is a big week for earnings reports with more than 160 S&P 500 members reporting, including the four largest U.S. companies by market cap, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet....
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Earnings season ramps up with seven Dow Jones Industrial Average constituents among the blue chip companies scheduled to report first-quarter earnings this week. Some of the big names that...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Through much of March, the stock market seemed to have come to grips with the prospect of higher interest rates. Many of the big-name tech stocks enjoyed big rallies out of oversold conditions even as interest rates...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch This week marks the beginning of first-quarter earnings season. Big banks and other financials lead off with JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock among...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President The first quarter of 2022 came to an end last week and stocks saw their worst performance since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. For the quarter, the S&P 500 (SPX) was...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee releases the minutes of its last Fed meeting when the Fed raised rates from the 0% lower bound. The minutes will be parsed for thoughts on...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Last week, the major averages were angling to add to their recent gains to demonstrate that the prior week’s wahoo rally was no fluke. Although the gains for the week were relatively bleak, in light of the potential...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch OPEC+ will hold a virtual meeting this week and is expected to keep production unchanged despite oil prices trading at the highest level in more than a decade and concerns over the impact...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Markets got back on track last week (following two weeks of negative returns), with stocks recording their best weekly performance since November of 2020. The S&P 500 (SPX)...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three things to watch The economic data this week is mostly second tier with readings on housing (new and pending home sales), and regional manufacturing surveys from the Richmond and Kansas City Fed. All are...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The Federal Reserve meets this week and the rate decision will be announced Wednesday afternoon. Traders are almost positive that the Fed will raise rates 25 basis points, although futures...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Both our stock market and our bond market misfired again last week. The worsening geopolitical situation put the caliber of our markets to the test. The blowback began early in the week as the price of a barrel of...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Since Russia moved to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24, reports have emerged that Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian military leadership expected to take full control of the...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The completely unpredictable effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, particularly on the commodity markets will be the major focus of the markets this week. Energy, grains, and metals...
By Jack Kraft, CFA, Advisor Directed Portfolio Analyst Diversified portfolios allow investors to reap the benefits of having exposure to global financial markets. This allows investors to spread geopolitical risks across different parts of the world....
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The economic calendar is busy with top-tier data releases. ISM is expected at 58 on Tuesday with the prices-paid component remaining elevated from last month. On Friday, the employment...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Jack Kraft, CFA, Advisor Directed Portfolio Analyst Last week, the U.S. equity markets finished lower as investor sentiment was dampened by geopolitical uncertainty in Eastern Europe. Choppy trading ensued for the week with the path of least resistance...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Stocks finished lower once again last week with a strong wave of selling commencing on Friday afternoon. The White House continues to raise concerns about a potential invasion of...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Multiple Fed speakers are on the docket this week. Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President After a rough start to 2022, stocks were able to find their footing last week with each of the major U.S. indices notching gains. The S&P 500 (SPX) gained 1.57% last week while...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch After last week’s surprisingly strong jobs report, inflation will be the focus this week. CPI will be released on Thursday and overall CPI is expected to jump to 7.3% on a year-over-year basis with...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Earnings season is in full swing. High-profile reports this week include Alphabet, Starbucks, Amazon and Ford. Through Friday, 169 S&P 500 constituents reported earnings. Of those, 128 posted...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President In the week following the Martin Luther King holiday, the stock market suffered body blows in each of the four sessions. The market was punch-drunk, and stocks were on the ropes when last week began. As the market...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Stocks had their worst week since the beginning of the Covid pandemic last week. The S&P 500 (SPX) finished the week down 5.67% and notched its third straight week of losses....
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch There will be a large number of earnings reports this week, coming after the NASDAQ and S&P 500 suffered their worst weeks since March 2020. Some of the higher profile companies reporting this week...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer The recent decline in U.S stocks , particularly against the backdrop of surging Covid cases, has left many investors unnerved. Tuesday (Jan. 18), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 540 points,...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President If there was a message in the first day of trading last week, it was that the market is not too concerned about the rising omicron numbers. The New Year began with a new high for both the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch High-profile economic reports this week include a last look at 2021 inflation. December CPI and PPI will be released Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, and are expected to post the highest readings...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The new year starts with a busy calendar. Top-tier economic releases this week include The ISM manufacturing survey for December, released on Tuesday and the employment report released on Friday. The...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The so-called Santa Claus Rally is a seasonal pattern that has seen the stock market make gains the last week of the year and the first two trading days of the new year. Stocks have averaged a 1.4%...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Two weeks ago, I wondered whether the emerging omicron variant would have any effect on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy plans. Similarly, investors have spent the last few...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch This will be a shortened trading week. Friday is a holiday since Christmas falls on Saturday. Typically, Christmas Eve is a half day of trading for stocks. Trading is expected to be quiet. Economic...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday sits front and center this week. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has already indicated that the Fed might accelerate its pace of tapering and the...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Following a couple of very lean weeks, the market woke up and chowed down last week. On Monday and Tuesday, the averages gobbled up points voraciously. The lessening of the Omicron variant as a threat spurred the...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Investors channeled their best Dorothy from The Wizard of OZ last week and they dealt with uncertainty stemming from the emerging Omicron variant of COVID-19. When Dorothy arrives...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The economic calendar is highlighted by November CPI on Friday. Overall inflation is expected to be up 6.7% year-over-year with core inflation (sans food and energy) climbing 4.9% from a year ago. If...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Despite a full calendar of important economic news, the markets will focus on the new emerging coronavirus strain in South Africa. The news that it could be more transmissible and the uncertainty...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The markets will be closed on Thursday and stocks will have a shortened session on Friday, closing at 1 pm ET. There are few earnings reports due out this week with both Zoom and Best Buy reporting....
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President As the holiday season begins, with it comes the eager anticipation of many traditional seasonal events. From mundane tasks like hauling out the holiday decorations and napping through NFL games to more anxiety-filled...
By Ben Norris, CFA, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Stocks finished mildly lower last week, dragged down by weak performance in the Consumer Discretionary, Energy, and Communication Services sectors. Stocks in the Materials and...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The consumer, and in particular, consumer spending will be in the spotlight this week. On Tuesday retail sales for October will be released and they are expected to be strong, up 1.3% for the month,...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Since the take-off from their lows in early-October, the market averages have been gaining altitude at a dizzying rate. Last week, the rate of climb steepened even further. A peek at the altimeter indicates that all...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Both investors and policymakers will anxiously await this week’s inflation data. Producer prices (PPI) and consumer prices (CPI) are scheduled to be released Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. PPI is...
By Jack Kraft, Advisor Directed Portfolio Analyst Halloween season did very little to spook an ounce of fear into investors this October. Last week was filled with a flurry of corporate earnings reports, important economic data, and negotiations on...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The FOMC meets this week and will be the focus of attention. The Fed is expected to announce the reduction of monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities this month. Market...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Approximately 30% of the S&P 500 members report earnings this week, led by tech giants such as Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft. To date, earnings for the quarter are coming in well...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Over the past couple months, you’ve probably heard a sprinkling of sage market analysts describing the seasonal tendency for the U.S. stock market to exhibit weakness in September and October followed by a rally into...
By Ben Norris, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Third-quarter earnings season kicked off last week accompanied by a slew of economic and market data releases. Third-quarter earnings is off to a strong start relative to consensus...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Earnings season begins in earnest this week. In the early releases, companies are topping estimates by approximately 16% versus the long-term average of 4%. S&P 500 companies are expected to post...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The third-quarter earnings season kicks off in earnest this week. Earnings are expected to grow approximately 28%, which would be the fifth consecutive quarter, the longest streak since 2005. Banks...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Yep, that’s the title of the new, just-released James Bond movie. It seemed appropriate for a stock market recap on a week in which the market was shaken, not stirred. Perhaps an even more appropriate title would have...
By Ben Norris, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President September has been an historically rough month for stock market performance, and September 2021 kept that trend alive. After seeing positive performance in each of the seven months...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Washington will be center stage again this week as lawmakers continue to debate a major infrastructure stimulus package (bipartisan infrastructure bill), social spending deal (Build Back Better Act),...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The showdown in Washington over the debt ceiling and the politics surrounding it should heat up this week. There is no consistent pattern historically of the impact on the S&P 500 when this has...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President The stock market’s northerly route over the past several months has been occasionally interrupted by brief jogs to the south. Those sudden veers, which were severe enough to induce panicked cries from the back-seat...
Joel Wiesehan, Senior VP/Manager Fixed Income provides a recap of the September FOMC meeting.
By Ben Norris, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President There are countless adages for financial markets – a rising tide lifts all boats, sell in May and go away, buy the rumor sell the news, everybody is a genius in a bull market, don’t...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The Federal Reserve meeting is the biggest event this week. The focus will be on the language in the press release and if there are any clues as to when the Fed might begin to taper its bond...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August is set to be released on Tuesday. CPI is expected to be up 5.3% year-over-year with core CPI (ex Food and Energy) up 4.2% from a year earlier. That would be...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President The stock market’s skies darkened a bit last week. The sunny economic conditions in recent months, along with a pleasing tailwind of strong corporate earnings, have created an environment in which the major averages...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer Three Things to Watch Producer prices highlight the data calendar in the holiday-shortened trading week. The Producer Price Index (PPI) is expected up 8.2% year-over-year with core PPI forecast to be 6.6% higher than a year...
By Bill Hornbarger, Chief Investment Officer
By Ben Norris, Securities Research Analyst, Associate Vice President Last week featured a consequential update from the Federal Reserve. The central bank has been the center of attention for investors (even more than normal) for most of 2021 as they wait...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Don’t let this week’s market headlines strike panic. If you consider percentages vs. points, the SARS virus and 9/11 triggered 12-13% corrections in the market and that is roughly the percentage pullback we’ve had to...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President The stock market has enjoyed an incredible rally in the final months of 2019. It was pretty much the exact opposite of the way stocks performed in late-2018. A year ago, stocks were finishing a rough December, and...
By Pete Biebel, Senior Vice President Investors who are entering the autumn of their investing career might want to put a little spring into the income side of their portfolios. As investors approach their retirement years they typically de-risk their...