Market Commentaries
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Are You Looking for Yield in all the Wrong Places?
09-21-2020 |As it relates to low-interest rates, with the U.S. 10 year treasury yield hovering around 0.70%, and traditional savings and money market accounts potentially yielding even less, investors are feverishly searching for alternative ways to generate income. Our objective in this week's market update is to outline the historical risk, return, and yield of various options currently available to those investors with income-production objectives.... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: What the Tech?
09-14-2020 |What we have observed is that a large number of retail investors, and some large institutions, were active in call option purchases related to the high-flying technology stocks. Buying a call option gives an investor the right, but not the obligation, to purchase the underlying security at a set price. ... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Will the Leaders Continue to Lead the Markets Forward?
09-08-2020 |At this time some of the areas we favor are innovative and quality U.S. companies, which can be sector agnostic. Examples include companies developing or utilizing revolutionary technologies like cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, along with biotech companies within the Healthcare sector developing innovative technologies to treat and cure chronic diseases. These will undoubtedly involve some small-cap companies. ... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Should Investors Worry about Higher Interest Rate Sensitivity?
08-31-2020 |Prior to the spread of COVID-19, many may have understandably been unaware of, or unfamiliar with, the iShares iBoxx U.S. Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (Ticker: LQD), but that unfamiliarity may have dissipated following the Federal Reserve's decision to provide liquidity to the U.S. corporate bond market by making secondary market purchases of U.S. corporate bond ETFs through a newly established entity called the Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility (SMCCF). ... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Yield Doesn’t Grow on Trees
08-24-2020 |While there are other contributing factors influencing prices, the fact remains that yields remain at historic lows. Income production within a portfolio, whether it be through interest or dividends, is extremely important to income-oriented investors. Where should these investors turn when yields such as the 10-year U.S. Treasury are just 0.64%? ... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Politics & S&P 500 Sector Performance
08-17-2020 |In political news, the markets digested the announcement of California Senator Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate. For many investors, the question still remains as to how much attention investors should pay to electoral outcomes and what action, if any, should be taken in one's portfolio in the lead up to an election? ... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: Gold, Interest Rates and the U.S. Dollar
08-10-2020 |Stocks moved higher last week on weekly jobless claims figures which increased by 1.18 million, well below expectations for a 1.43 million increase. Earnings updates, economic stimulus news, and renewed concerns over continued geopolitical tensions influenced markets.... Read More
Last Week’s Markets in Review: The FED, Q2 GDP, and Jobless Claims
08-03-2020 |U.S equity markets rallied higher following a string of positive announcements on the economic data, and a continued commitment to maintain record low-interest rates by the Federal Reserve. In the U.S., the S&P 500 Index rose to a level of 3,271, representing a gain of 1.73%, while the Russell Midcap Index pushed 1.59% higher last week... Read More