If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you know I’ve written about a tetter totter (or see saw if you prefer) in the past when explaining any number of market dynamics. I’ll risk repeating myself this week as it is such a good visual. It works especially well when thinking about investor sentiment. […]

2023 is quickly becoming the year in which I discuss topics I never imagined would come up with such frequency, if at all… topics such as bank failures (see March 2023 publications) and now the potential of a US default. But in life it seems we should expect the unexpected! The United States is a […]

I receive a weekly newsletter from Jesse Itzler, a serial entrepreneur and speaker who has a unique and compelling take on many topics. In a recent newsletter, he took readers thru a quick exercise to illustrate an innate human instinct. I’m about to put my own spin on this same exercise to reiterate the point […]

Here we are again – another month, another set of inflation readings. April’s reports were both very encouraging. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April was released this week, and it showed clear progress in the ongoing battle against inflation. CPI rose 0.4% in April and 4.9% year over year – both 0.1% lower […]

Here we go again. Earlier this week, as expected, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the fed funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 5.0-5.25%. This is the tenth increase in this rate cycle (that started just over a year ago) and brings rates (from zero) to levels last seen before […]

Being from Milwaukee, I likely shouldn’t admit this (shhhhh, don’t tell anyone!) – but I don’t watch a lot of Bucks basketball. Nothing personal against the Bucks, but NBA just isn’t on my usual radar. However, once playoff time rolls around, I can’t help but get swept up in the action and this year was […]

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 […]