Perspectives

The potential global impact of the coronavirus upstaged the markets’ focus on earnings and economic data. The deadly virus has spread far beyond its origination in Wuhan China; as of Friday, over 900 cases (including 26 deaths) have been confirmed in 11 countries. On Friday, the unknown reach of the virus triggered a market selloff which was the largest decline since October 8, 2019. For the week, the Russell 2000® Index (‑2.20%) posted the biggest decline followed by the Dow Jones Industri… View More

The indices rose last week on the strength of the signing of Phase One trade agreement with China, the Senate’s passage of the USMCA agreement, positive economic reports and a good start to earnings season. The Russell 2000® Index (2.53%) led the major indices, followed by the Nasdaq (2.29%), the S&P 500® Index (1.97%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (1.82%). On Wednesday, the U.S. and China signed the Phase One agreement; details of the deal address several long-standing concerns by th… View More

Congress, at almost the last minute, passed a large number of tax changes, including a number that affect retirement plans and will become effective in 2020, as well as extensions through 2020 for a number of tax provisions that had expired or were about to. The list of changes is quite large, so we have only included those that are most likely to affect our clients. We recommend following up with your accountant for a full list of tax changes and how they may affect your personal or business si… View More

Most of the equity markets edged higher this week despite the uncertainties in the Middle East; the Russell 2000® Index declined fractionally. For the week, the Nasdaq (1.75%) led the major indices followed by the S&P 500® Index (0.94%), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (0.66%) and the Russell 2000® (-0.19%). The markets opened the week lower following last week’s assassination of Iran’s military leader General Soleimani by U.S. drones in Iraq. Iran then retaliated with a nighttime, n… View More

On Tuesday, January 7th, Iran launched a series of missile attacks against US military bases Al-Asad and Arbil with state sponsored television reporting that this is the “opening of Terahn’s revenge” for the US drone attack responsible for killing General Qassem Soleimani. Later, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif signaled this could be both the “beginning” and the “end” of the strikes against the US. These two conflicting statements leave us wondering what to expect. Our hearts … View More

At the beginning of each year, we like to share the top 10 predictions of an analyst we have followed for many years, Bob Doll, who is the Chief Equity Strategist at Nuveen. He has historically been right on more than 70% of these predictions, and for us, they serve as a broad overview of the current economic climate. Bob Doll's Top 10 Predictions for 2020: The world avoids recession in 2020 as U.S. GDP grows over 2% and global GDP grows over 3%. Inflation and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield … View More

Each year we like to provide you with some insight for the coming year ahead. We like the consistent outlook of one of our favorite portfolio managers/analysts, Bob Doll, from Nuveen asset management. Below is how Bob's predictions are faring so far for 2019. We will bring you his 2020 predictions right after the new year. As 2019 unwinds (and before we unveil Bob’s 2020 Predictions), it’s a good time to look back at the past 12 months and provide initial thoughts about what the next year m… View More

In a quiet, pre-holiday trading week, the major indices continued to move higher on renewed optimism for stronger economic growth in 2020. The Nasdaq (2.18%) outperformed followed by Russell 2000® Index (2.07%), the S&P 500® Index (1.65%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1.14%). The de-escalation of trade wars with the Phase One agreement between the U.S. and China provided this week’s catalyst despite the lack of details on the agreement’s terms. Presidents Trump and Xi spoke on … View More

Congress Passes Sweeping Retirement Legislation, Sends To President's Desk Congress has passed the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement or SECURE Act as part of its 2020 spending package — providing advisors, the financial services industry and investors with the most significant piece of retirement legislation in a decade. Currently, 40% of private-sector workers do not have access to a workplace retirement plan. “The SECURE Act will increase workers' access to retirement… View More

As the end of the year and the holiday season approach, we will all see an increase in the number of charitable solicitations arriving in our mailboxes and by email. Since some charities sell their contributor lists to other charities, frequent contributors may find themselves besieged by requests from all sorts of charities with which they are not familiar. Watch Out for Charity Scams – You need to be careful; there are scammers out there pretending to be legitimate charities looking to take… View More