Investments
A Cautious Consumer
Consumer discretionary stocks are off to a slow start in 2025. Amongst the equal-weight-sector allocations, an equal weight portfolio of all consumer discretionary stocks in the S&P 500 (as proxied by RSPD) has posted the worst return through March 25th. Commentary from several companies in the sector reveals a dynamic business landscape, influenced by the …
Blake Anderson
March 31, 2025
Offense and Defense in 2025
March Madness is a fantastic time of year to talk about playing offense and defense. As we wrote about in our 2025 outlook and have revisited a time or two since, in markets you can play offense with momentum and defense with low volatility. Combining these together in portfolios builds resiliency – something investors have …
Grant Engelbart
March 28, 2025
7 Policy Mistakes That Could Undermine Our Bullish Policy Outlook Updated
“If pro is the opposite of con, does that make progress the opposite of Congress?” -famous quip Back on January 3rd, to mark the swearing in of the 119th Congress, we shared seven risks to our bullish policy outlook. That was still 17 days before inauguration day. Now we’ve seen the new administration’s policies gel …
Barry Gilbert
March 26, 2025
Celebrating Women’s History Month with Lindsey Bell and Debbie Taylor
In this special episode of Facts vs. Feelings, Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist, welcome Lindsey Bell, Chief Market Strategist at Clearonomics, and Debbie Taylor, Managing Partner and Chief Tax Strategist at Carson Wealth, for a special Women’s History Month Livestream. Together, they discuss their careers, recent market trends, and how investors …
Ryan Detrick
March 26, 2025
Takeaways from Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference
Nvidia hosted its annual GPU Technology Conference (“GTC”) this past week, showcasing its latest technology. This event marked the company’s first opportunity to address investor concerns following the DeepSeek-driven drawdown which raised questions about future demand for computing. Nvidia unequivocally painted a bullish picture, emphasizing how large language models (“LLMs”) have evolved significantly in recent …
Blake Anderson
March 25, 2025
Stocks Rarely Peak in February and Five Other Things to Know Right Now
“If everybody is thinking alike, somebody isn’t thinking.” -General George S. Patton Last week, we discussed how the S&P 500 officially moved into a correction, which is down 10% from the February 19th peak. We noted then that most years (even some of the best years) see volatility and scary headlines, with many of those …
Ryan Detrick
March 24, 2025
Women’s History Month: Building Community for Women in Finance
March is Women’s History Month, and we’re celebrating with a special livestream edition of Facts vs Feelings! Hosts Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist, will discuss markets, taxes, investing, the economy, and more with some of the best and brightest women leaders in the world of finance. Ryan and …
Ryan Detrick
March 21, 2025
Consumers Expect Stagflation, But Here’s Why That’s Unlikely
It’s not surprising that consumer sentiment has plunged over the last two months amid all the market volatility, and headlines around tariffs and layoffs (even beyond the federal government). Two popular surveys of consumer sentiment, from the University of Michigan and The Conference Board, have seen sentiment more than reverse all the gains made in …
Sonu Varghese
March 21, 2025
The Fed Is Stuck Waiting, and That’s a Problem
The Federal Reserve (Fed) opted to keep their policy rate unchanged, leaving it at the 4.25-4.5% target range. This was not unexpected, but all eyes were on the Fed’s “dot plot,” which is their Summary of Economic Projections. It’s updated every three months and contains individual member estimates of the federal funds rate over the …
Sonu Varghese
March 20, 2025
Four Reasons Not to Panic and Sell Right Now
“So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber As I wrote about last week in Houston, We Have A Correction, Now What?, the S&P 500 has been volatile lately and recently moved into a correction (down more than 10%). Today I want to discuss a few more things you should …
Ryan Detrick
March 19, 2025
Correction, How Worried Should We Be?
In the latest episode of Facts vs. Feelings, Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, and Sonu Varghese, VP, Global Macro Strategist, break down the recent market correction, what history tells us about recoveries, and whether investors should be concerned. Plus, they discuss sentiment shifts, the strength of international markets, and what they see next for stocks. Key Takeaways: …
Ryan Detrick
March 19, 2025
Why Germany’s Epic Announcement May Be a Potential Game Changer for the Global Economy & Markets
Over the last month, the market conversation has been so dominated by tariffs that it’s been hard to tune into anything else happening in the global economy. This is not to say that the newly implemented tariffs are insignificant—as I wrote recently, the tariffs are unprecedented and a big deal. But their impact on the …
Sonu Varghese
March 18, 2025