Uncertainty Levels Have Increased

U.S. equities were mixed again last week with the S&P 500 (-0.82%) and NASDAQ lower (- 2.08%) and the small cap Russell 2000 (+1.77%). Big tech/momentum were the biggest decliners. Best sectors were utilities (+1.47%), healthcare (+1.41%), and materials (+1.37%); underperformers included communication services (-3.76%), technology (-2.44%), and consumer discretionary (-2.31%).   The preliminary release of Q2 2024 U.S. GDP surprised to the upside (+2.8%) with the two largest drivers of t… View More

Is the Stock Market Broadening?

U.S. equity indexes were mixed last week with the market largely rotating out of big tech/momentum/growth into value/cyclicals/small caps. The S&P 500 Index was down (-1.95%); the NASDAQ fell (-3.65%); and the Russell 2000 Index was up (+2.33%). Themes included soft-landing hopes, expectations for a Fed rate pivot, and a surge in the “Trump trade.” Best sectors were energy (+2.06%), real estate (+1.32%), and financials (+1.19%); worst sectors were technology (-5.14%), communication servi… View More

So far, risk assets interpreting economic weakness as bullish (Fed can ease!)

Stocks ended higher last week (S&P 500 +0.87%), with small caps and equal-weight S&P 500 strongly outperforming the other major indexes following the post-CPI rotation out of big tech. The best performers were real estate (+4.37%) and utilities (+3.90%); the only negative sector was communication services (-3.57%).   Headline June CPI declined 0.1% m/m (versus consensus of +0.1%) (up 3.0% y/y). It was the first monthly drop since July 2022. Core CPI was +0.1% m/m (+0.2% consensus) a… View More

America's 3.5-Second Miracle

In 1852, Karl Marx said "Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered and transmitted from the past." He, obviously knew about the Magna Carta (1215) and the English Parliament’s Bill of Rights (1689), which created a separation of powers between the King and elected representatives. What he didn’t pay much attention to was how the United States had improved upon… View More

THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW BUT PROBABLY SHOULD

1. An AI search uses 10x the amount of electricity than that of a Google search. 2. The EIA expects global electricity usage from data centers to increase by 540 terawatts from 2022 to 2026. “This is roughly the equivalent of the electricity usage of Japan” in one year. 3. Despite government subsidies, natural gas provides 10x the amount of electricity to the American power grid than does solar. 4. Coal still provides 16% of America’s electricity generation, according to the EIA. 5. Th… View More

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PRIVACY NOTICE REGARDING CLIENT PRIVACY

Fortem Financial Group, LLC, has adopted this policy with recognition that protecting the privacy and security of the non-public personal information we obtain about our customers is an important responsibility.

All financial companies choose how they share your non-public personal information. Federal law gives consumers the right to limit some but not all sharing. Federal law also requires us to tell you how we collect, share, and protect your non-public personal information. Even when you are no longer our customer, we will only share your non-public personal information as described in this notice. So, please read this notice carefully to understand what we do.

The types of non-public personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us. This information can include items such as your Social Security number and income, your account balances and transaction history, and your investment experience and account transactions.

We collect your non-public personal information in a variety of ways. For example, we obtain your non-public personal information when you open an account or give us your income information, tell us about your portfolio or deposit money, or enter into an investment advisory contract. We also collect your non-public personal information from other companies. For example, from the custodians who hold your account assets.

All financial companies need to share customer’s non-public personal information to run their everyday business. Below, we describe the reasons we can share your non-public personal information and whether you can limit this sharing.

We share your non-public personal information for our everyday business purposes such as to process your transactions, maintain your account(s), respond to court orders and legal investigations, report to credit bureaus, to protect the confidentiality or security of your records, or as permitted by law. We may also share your non-public personal information for our own firm’s marketing purposes; so that we can offer our products and services to you.

Federal law gives you the right to limit only sharing non-public personal information about your credit worthiness for our affiliates’ everyday business purposes; sharing non-public personal information about you with our affiliates to market to you; and sharing non-public personal information with non-affiliates to market to you.

We don’t share non-public personal information about your creditworthiness with our affiliates for their everyday business purposes. We don’t share your non-public personal information with our affiliates to market to you. We don’t share your non-public personal information with non-affiliates to market to you. We also don’t share your non-public personal information for joint marketing with other financial companies. State laws and individual companies may give you additional rights to limit sharing.

We share non-public personal information with our parent company affiliate, Focus Financial Partners, Inc, for its internal and external auditing purposes. We also share your non-public personal information with a non-affiliate for the purpose of aggregating it and providing summary information based on this data to our parent company, Focus Financial Partners, Inc.

To protect your non-public personal information from unauthorized access and use, we use security measures that comply with federal law. These measures include computer safeguards and secured files and buildings.

Our policy about obtaining and disclosing non-public personal information may change from time to time. We will provide you notice of any material change to this policy before we implement the change.

If you have questions please call us at 760-206-8500 or go to our website at www.fortemfin.com.

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Fortem Financial Group, LLC ("Fortem Financial" or the "Firm") is a federally registered investment adviser with offices in California and Arizona. Fortem Financial and its representatives are in compliance with the current registration and notice filing requirements imposed upon federally registered investment advisers by those states in which Fortem Financial maintains clients. Fortem Financial may only transact business in those states in which it is notice filed, or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from notice filing requirements.

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