The market as a leading indicator…for the market
We frequently write about the stock market as a leading indicator of the real economy. The idea being the market will anticipate the economic environment to come, rallying in the face of awful economic news and selling off in the face of constructive economic news….
It’s always darkest before the dawn
It is one thing to understand we are living through an unprecedented, pandemic driven economic downturn, and all together another to learn the US unemployment rate is 14.7% and that 20.5 million of our fellow Americans lost their jobs in April. The numbers are shocking,…
Pick a letter, any letter
We got our first look at Q1 Gross Domestic Product last week, and as expected, it wasn’t pretty. While the Q1 GDP number is subject to revision, it showed the economy contracted (4.8%) Q to Q. If one considers that the coronavirus didn’t hit the…
How can oil be worth less than nothing?
They say if you live long enough you really do see everything. Well, last week investors saw something they had never seen before – the price of a barrel of oil going for negative $37, at least based on the May 2020 futures contract on…
Putting politics aside
We live in red or blue states; we tune into liberal or conservative media outlets; our President is either Making America Great Again or an existential threat to our Republic; on it goes. Yet, consider how policymakers—including House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and…
Creative destruction
Economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the phrase “creative destruction” to describe the way innovation in the manufacturing process increases productivity while destroying the old way of doing things as a new efficient way is developed. This idea has been expanded to many other contexts as we…
Vlog: Quarter-end Q&A 1Q2020
Tim Holland, CFA, Global Investment Strategist, asks and answers three top-of-mind questions as investors receive their quarterly statements and reflect on the past quarter: Have we seen the bottom in the stock market? Have the Federal Reserve and the Federal Government done enough in response…
Getting back to even
US equities have rallied sharply the past few weeks, with the S&P 500 Index (S&P 500) now 27% above its March 23 intra-day low of 2,189. We believe the March 23 low will— in hindsight—prove to be the low for this market cycle. What we…
A review of the CARES Act with Tom Wilson
Thomas K.R. Wilson, CFA, Senior Vice President and Head of Wealth Advisory, provides a brief update on the CARES Act and its impact on retirement accounts. Download CARES Act flyer The views expressed are those of Brinker Capital and are not intended as investment advice or…
What could go right
Someone somewhere was the first to say, “Hope is not a strategy.” Now, that is true in all walks of life, but especially in investing. You can’t hope the market will go up. You can’t hope your portfolio will provide an adequate rate of return….