Written by Todd Brand, AIF® “Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.” – John Kenneth Galbraith So, take these thoughts with a grain of salt, as we will be dabbling not just in economics, but also infectious diseases’ impacts on them. As it often does, the stock market has hit a… Read More

The second quarter saw the continuation of a powerful economic recovery due to fading of the pandemic and massive fiscal and monetary stimulus. US vaccinations have increased significantly with 46% of US adults now fully vaccinated, 54% with at least one dose, and 86% of the population over age 65 having received at least one… Read More

It’s fair to say a lot happened in the first quarter of 2021. We began the quarter with a contested election, and then the inauguration of a new administration. The investing lexicon expanded as we experienced our first (but likely not the last) “meme stock craze”. By the end of the quarter, 97.6 million people… Read More

For most of the last decade, the US stock market had been trending generally higher year after year. That was until the fourth quarter of 2018 gave us a scare. Back then we remarked how it was the first drop of greater than 15% in seven years and how unusual that was (because on average it happens once every three years – see the chart below, a version of which we also shared in our 2018 year-end market commentary). Read More

Following the best quarterly performance for US stocks in 23 years, the S&P 500 continued to move higher throughout most of the third quarter. At one point in early September, the S&P 500 was +15.9% for the quarter and posting new all-time highs. Read More