Back in the 1980s, President Reagan took enormous political heat (Sam Donaldson comes to mind) for being fiscally irresponsible. His offense? Presiding over a budget deficit that peaked at 5.9% of GDP in Fiscal Year 1983. But at least Reagan had an excuse. Actually, multiple excuses. The unemployment rate averaged 10.1% in FY 1983, which pushed up spending, while reducing revenue. The Reagan tax cuts were phased-in, so many people pushed off income (and taxes) into future years. Finally, the US… View More
Since the beginning of 2022, the media has regularly warned a recession is coming. As we suggested previously, if a recession did occur, it would be the most well forecasted recession ever on record. Something else has indeed happened. As discussed in numerous measures suggest a recession is forthcoming. However, that recession has yet to reveal itself. Such has led to a fierce debate between the bulls and the bears. The bears contend that a recession is still coming, while the bulls are bettin… View More
Will the economy roll into a formal recession, or is a recovery underway? It's a close call. We've believed all year that the economy has been undergoing a series of "rolling recessions" affecting various industries and sectors. The question is whether it eventually would roll into a formal recession. To date, it's still not clear. Despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to cool economic growth and control inflation, job growth has remained relatively strong—although job expansion historica… View More
Stocks fell again last week (S&P 500 -0.3%) with big tech hit hardest. Inflation remains the primary concern despite a good CPI report on Wednesday – PPI report on Friday was less good. Best sectors were energy (+3.5%) and healthcare (+2.5%); worst sector was technology (-2.9%). Source: Bob Doll Crossmark Investments Chart reflects price changes, not total return. Because it does not include dividends or splits, it should not be used to benchmark performance of specific inve… View More
2Q Earnings Season 84% Complete With the majority of earnings season complete, the overall picture is one of better-than-expected earnings and sales. Earnings growth for the quarter is expected to decline -4.2% which is a smaller decline than what was originally expected (-5.7%). Sales are now expected to eke out a small gain at 0.2% versus a decline of -0.6%. The energy sector is where the notable weakness is occurring but with oil prices on the rise again and expectations just about as bad … View More