The Fed Tosses Out a Lifeline In the third quarter of 2020, the market recovery continued unabated. Earlier this spring, the Federal Reserve made many decisions to try to address the economic impact of the COVID pandemic, most notably by lowering interest rates and establishing bond buying programs that essentially provide a government-backed guarantee for significant portions of the public bond market. With this decision, the Federal Reserve became the “buyer of last resort

"Nifty-Fifty" and the "Giant 5" - What's in a Name? You may notice there is a disconnect between the world we’re living in – where COVID-19 is escalating and our nation is still struggling with economic shutdowns and significant unemployment – and the stock market, which is up 43% from its low in March, and only down 5% from all-time highs in February 2020. You are likely wondering – How? Why? Those are great questions. A grand majority of companies that make up the stock

Time Marches On "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen." ― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Whether it be stock market losses, staggering pandemic unpreparedness, unparalleled increases in unemployment, and the near instant shuttering of businesses that took many years to build, March 2020 will go down for all of us as a period of weeks where decades happened. Markets – simply a reflection and collection of businesses, managerial decisions

The Power of (Hindsight) 20/20 Vision Before we dive into 2020, let’s take ourselves back in time, to the start of the last decade....

Cornucopia Welcome to the fourth quarter of 2019! As I was thinking about writing this Q3 Quarterly Market Review, I was thinking of the...

Why It Matters There is a Wall Street saying that says “sell in May and go away,” but that would have been a mistake this year....

You Know Nothing, Jon Snow I am definitely late to the party, but I'm all caught up and ready for the final season Game of Thrones. The...

Predictably Bad Decisions People make bad decisions, but they make them in predictable and systematic ways! Have you ever (…and I already...

Goodbye, October (The Month of Halloween and Scary Markets) October is a great month in the Pacific Northwest with changing seasons,...

Bozu Mekuri Happy Spring everyone! I just returned from an amazing trip to Japan with the family. We had 11 perfect days of weather and...