The S&P 500 rebounded sharply in April, rising 10.5% and bringing year-to-date returns to 5.7%. Looking across major indices, emerging markets and small cap stocks outperformed the S&P 500, while developed international equities posted solid, albeit less...

The S&P 500 finished the month of March down 5.0%, bringing year-to-date losses to 4.3%. There were very few places to hide, as 10-year Treasury yields rose from 3.96% to 4.32%, gold declined 11%, and international equities underperformed their domestic...

The S&P 500 finished the month down 0.8%, bringing year-to-date returns to 0.7%1. During our Crystal Ball Outlook, we outlined 2026 as the year of “Risk Awareness and Diversification 2.0 (RAD),” calling for broader leadership across the market, not just within the...

“Déjà vu confirms a faithful path worth taking.”– T.F. Hodge Folks familiar with me know I like to use themes when discussing my economic and capital market views. I tend to view the economy (and much else in life) in a historical context. Why? Just because this is a...

We wouldn’t call it a scorching Santa Claus rally, but the S&P 500 was able to hang on and post a positive total return of roughly 2.7% in Q4 2025. This put a nice cherry on top of another solid year for US equity investors. In calendar 2025, the S&P 500...

The S&P 500 finished November up 0.2%, bringing year to date returns to 17.8% through month end. A flat month on the surface doesn’t quite capture the experience investors lived through, as it took a late-month rally to pull the index back to where it started....

October could best be described as a mixed bag: some good, some bad, but certainly eventful. The month’s headlines and market reactions once again reinforced our Clear Air Turbulence theme, as investors navigated through some spooky developments: renewed government...

Mark Twain once said that September is a particularly difficult month to invest in stocks. Of course, he went on to comment jokingly that the other 11 difficult months included all other 30-day periods that comprise the calendar. Well, not true this September. The...

The current market set-up and drama surrounding the Federal Reserve (the Fed) is center stage right now and about as Shakespearean as it gets. In this unfolding monetary policy play, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is seemingly cast in the role of Hamlet. Taking some...

On July 16, capital markets went through a period of whipsaw trading as speculation emerged that President Donald Trump might “fire” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Later that day, the president stated he wasn’t going to remove Powell unless he found “cause.”...