This week’s Fed meeting reminded me of the often-asked refrain “do you want the good news first?” The Fed meeting started off with good (albeit fully expected) news for markets when the Fed announced a 0.25% rate cut (taking the range to 3.75-4% range). The Fed also confirmed an end to quantitative tightening (discussed in […]

Each month, Rick Rieder, head of Fixed Income for Blackrock, hosts a monthly investment call that is always very informative. Him and his team present exhaustive data on several market trends and concepts. One that caught my attention this week was a discussion of the ongoing divide between certain age and income groups within the […]

If these were normal times, I’d be writing about the September CPI and PPI inflation reports. However, as the government shutdown marches on and economic data reports are delayed, it gives me the chance to write about some new & different topics. This week, I’m writing about another excerpt from a great book I’ve discussed […]

Another week has passed and the government shutdown continues. This has resulted in a very quiet flow of economic data as many of the key reports (such as the jobs report, CPI, and PPI) are calculated by government agencies that are currently furloughed. Markets seems to have shrugged off this information vacuum – at least […]

At the risk of repeating myself, 2025 has been quite the interesting year. Just when you think we’ve seen the last of the unexpected events, something else comes our way. It seems to the be the year of “stay tuned!” This week, we had two rather unexpected occurrences – the end of Q3 (not unusual […]

Earlier this year, I listened to a podcast that discussed the need for a healthy dose of discernment. Ever since, I have kept that term top of mind and continually work on refining it. What exactly is discernment? Discernment’s dictionary definition is simple: the ability to judge well A more extensive explanation of the term […]

After months of discussion over interest rates throughout 2025, the “great rate debate” reached a pivot point this week as the Federal Reserve cut the Fed Funds rate by 0.25% (the first such cut in 2025). This takes the Fed’s target rate range to 4% – 4.25%. As a reminder, the Federal Reserve has been […]

We received two new insights into inflation this week with the release of August inflation data. The Producer Price Index (PPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) were of added importance this week after last week’s weak jobs number as these data points may help determine if (and by how much) the Federal Reserve may […]

Labor Day fell on the earliest day it can (September 1) this year and for some reason, I feel as though it cut summer short. Fall is upon us here in Wisconsin and we are now in the final stretch of 2025. Let’s take a look at the data that came out this week and […]

I’ve been writing about the US Federal Reserve (America’s Central Bank) quite a bit as of late. This week, the institution responsible for monetary policy in this country, found itself in the headlines for two major storylines. Powell’s Jackson Hole Speech On Friday August 22nd, Fed Chairman Powell gave a speech at an annual symposium […]