U.S. Equities Were Mixed Last Week

U.S. equities were mixed last week. The S&P 500 (+1.58%) and NASDAQ posted solid gains, while the Dow and Russell 2000 were both lower. Breadth was narrow again. The upside was driven in large part by another rate rally and more soft-landing optimism. The best sector was technology (+6.43%); the worst sectors were energy (-2.29%) and financials (-1.97%). Key takeaways: The U.S. CPI was flat m/m (3.3% y/y) and core (except food and energy was+ 0.2% m/m (3.4% y/y) in May. While the downsid… View More

Crosscurrents Continue to be Confusing

Equities advanced last week (S&P 500 +1.36%) as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ hit new all-time highs. Breadth was narrow as the equal weight S&P fell for the week. Best-performing sectors were technology (+3.83%) and healthcare (+1.96%); laggards included utilities (-3.81%) and energy (-3.41%). May non-farm payrolls increased 272,000 well above consensus. The unemployment rate rose to 4.0%. the highest level in over two years. Disappointing for potential Fed rate cuts, average hourly ear… View More

1Q Earnings Season Nearly Complete, Overall Growth Was Strong

After Nvidia reported last week, the first quarter earnings season is nearly complete, and overall, it was strong. The overall index grew at 8.0%, which was better than the January 1st expected growth rate of 7.2%. Revenues were at 3.8%, a touch lighter than the January 1st estimate of 4.1%, with the drag coming from Utilities and Materials. Despite not having strong growth rates, financials were the standout sector as their growth expectations exceeded estimates even before the collapse of SVB … View More

THE 2024 ELECTION & POLICY INVESTMENT PLAYBOOK

Now that we are past Memorial day in an election year, all eyes are on the upcoming election. We get a lot of questions as to what the market usually does in election years. I thought it would be helpful to share some information on what we should expect.   Macro/Pre-Election: Policymakers Will Keep Liquidity/Stimulus Flowing In 2024 S&P 500 has increased in every presidential reelection year since 1944 as sitting presidents stimulate the economy ahead of their reelection. Average retu… View More

COMMON MAN CPI CONTINUES TO RUN HOT

The primary justification for excluding food and energy from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “core” CPI number is that the data are noisy and, therefore, difficult for economists to forecast. Naturally, that raises another question: Does the data exist for economists and policymakers to make their decisions, or do they exist for regular people when deciding how to run their economic lives? Excluding food, energy, and housing from the “supercore” measure seems a little much because, le… View More

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.

IMPORTANT CONSUMER DISCLOSURE

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.

This website is limited to the dissemination of general information regarding the Firm's investment advisory services offered to U.S. residents residing in states where providing such information is not prohibited by applicable law. Accordingly, the publication of Fortem Financial' website on the Internet should not be construed by any consumer and/or prospective client as a solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment, tax or legal advice. Furthermore, the information resulting from the use of any tools or other information on this website should not be construed, in any manner whatsoever, as the receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized individual advice from Fortem Financial. Any subsequent direct communication from Fortem Financial with a prospective client will be conducted by a representative that is either registered or qualifies for an exemption or exclusion from registration in the state where the prospective client resides. Fortem Financial does not make any representations as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to this website or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility therefore. All such information is provided for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly.

All statements and opinions included on this website are subject to change as economic and market conditions dictate, and do not necessarily represent the views of Fortem Financial or any of their respective affiliates. Past performance may not be indicative of future results and there can be no assurance that any views, outlooks, projections or forward-looking statements will come to pass. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal, and the profitability of any particular investment strategy or product cannot be guaranteed.

Any rating referenced herein may not be representative of any one client's experience. Further, the Firm's receipt of any rating is not indicative of the Firm's future performance. The Charles E. Merrill Circle of Excellence award is granted by Merrill Lynch for outstanding client service and satisfaction. The award is granted based on annual criteria established by Merrill Lynch for its top decile advisors. The Barron's Top 1,200 Financial Advisors rating of the top financial advisors in the United States is based on data provided by participating firms. The following factors are included in the rankings: assets under management, revenue produced for the firm, regulatory record, quality of practice and philanthropic work. Investment performance is not an explicit component. The Palm Springs Life's "40 Under 40" Rising Young Professionals to Watch in the Coachella Valley is based upon nominations from the local business community and selected by the staff of Palm Springs Life.

For information pertaining to the registration status of Fortem Financial, please refer to the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website, operated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov., which contains the most recent versions of the Firm's Form ADV disclosure documents.

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