The month of September ended on a sour note, with most indexes dropping for the first time in many months. The moderate decline was enough to erase the quarter’s prior gains, resulting in a relatively flat quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the quarter slightly negative, and the S&P 50 was slightly positive (see…
Q2 – 2021: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Equity markets continued to move higher in the second quarter, and the year-to-date and 1-year rolling returns are looking superb! Almost too good to be true, some would say. But the uptrend continues as the pandemic is waning and the economy is booming. Let us not forget where we were one year ago – swimming…
Q1 – 2021: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
For those of you who tend to focus on the performance of your investments, this should be a great time to review your accounts! Specifically, the past one-year has been tremendous for most investments and asset classes. It’s hard to find stocks that have not appreciated from last March until this March, mainly since the…
Q4 – 2020: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Whew – that was fun right? Well, maybe not that fun. The roller coaster ride, otherwise known as the Year 2020, was quite a doozy. This time of the year always leads us to review and reflect on what just took place, and I always review portfolios to see if we make changes. We should…
Q3 – 2020: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
And we’re in the final stretch…of an eventful 2020 that is. More excitement and volatility are all but certain, as the election and progress of COVID-19 are closely watched. For now, let’s review some of the various index returns from the past couple of months: Index 3rd Quarter 1 YR S&P 500 Large Cap Index…
Q2 – 2020: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Wall Street wrapped up the second quarter last week. It was one for the record books. The recovery from the “Coronavirus Contraction” has been substantial, but in many ways is still incomplete. April was a particularly strong month, and the entire quarter went down as one of the best in over 20 years. Lockdowns have…
Q1 – 2020: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Well, that was quick. Feeling good after a strong finish to 2019, we’ve seen some dramatic changes happen in a very short period of time. Let’s call it the “Coronavirus Contraction”. It came swiftly, and it came with force. And while the economy was on a roll to start the year, in a matter of weeks, we were…
Q4 – 2019: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
The US economy went ROARING into the 20s as we closed the chapter on Q4 as well as the decade. Global markets were solidly higher for the quarter, as well as for 2019. The US consumer remained resilient due to a favorable labor environment, and spending and earnings have held up well. And the longest-running…
Q3 – 2019: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Looking back at the past quarter, the summer months (July/August) were slow followed by a more bullish September. The Federal Reserve (Fed), citing a slowdown in growth, cut interest rates in July and September in attempts to prolong the economic expansion. The European Central Bank took similar measures. Overall, the global markets were generally mixed…
Q2 – 2019: Brandon’s Quarterly Market Commentary
Whether you are a stock investor or a bond investor, the first half of 2019 was outstanding for financial markets. This has been a huge about-face from December when markets pulled back and sentiment was grim. The S&P 500 had it’s best June month in over 60 years. Not that we’re getting overly excited about…