It’s been a relatively quiet week market wise – quarterly earnings continue and we are in between major economic releases and Fed meetings. As a result, I thought we could all use a fun “Pam to Paper” exercise on brand loyalty. Market musings will return next week! Last week, Warren Buffett gave a three-hour interview […]

Two major economic reports have been released in the past week for March – labor report and inflation report (as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)). Let’s review the headlines of these economic news releases and explore what these reports may mean for markets moving forward. Labor Market Report Markets may have been closed […]

The health of employment in the country has always been a topic of interest. However, ever since COVID, the release of the monthly payroll report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has become “must see TV,” second only to the release of CPI! Early on in the pandemic, it was shocking to see how quickly […]

Some client questions and discussions are more challenging than others. The ones I’ve been having in the wake of the recent banking crisis (you can read more on that here) have been hard. Not because these are contentious topics to address and not because I don’t know how to answer them. They are challenging because […]

Here we are, nearing the end of Q1 2023. If you simply looked at market returns, you would think it was a pretty decent quarter. During the first three months of the year (with one trading day to go), equity markets have risen around 5%, interest rates have fallen slightly (giving a boost to bond […]

The Federal Reserve found itself facing a considerable dilemma this week at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting that took place Wednesday March 22, 2023. How would they balance the tension between their ongoing battle against inflation and the threats posed by the recent instability in the banking system? Up until a few weeks ago, […]

It’s been about ten months since I started writing these weekly letters to all of you. During most of that time, we have talked at length about the “after shocks” of COVID and the related government stimulus, focusing largely on inflation and the resulting rapid rise in interest rates to offset it. We have talked […]

It’s been yet another tumultuous week in markets. What caused the downward momentum this week? While one can never be certain, market prognosticators have largely pointed to Fed Chair Jay Powell’s comments in front of Congress, as well concerns over job market strength (non-farm payrolls will be released the day after I publish this). Weeks […]

Every year, legendary investor Warren Buffett pens a letter to shareholders that accompanies Berkshire Hathaway’s annual report. It’s a must-read in my opinion and while this year’s was a bit shorter than in prior years, it still contained plenty of insightful learnings. I highly encourage you to read the full letter for yourself. Below I’m […]

As most of you know, my sweet dog Maple is one of the best parts of my life. We love adventuring together in local parks and when it’s safe to do so, I let her off her leash to explore. I was listening to a presentation on dog training earlier this week and they discussed […]