“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…” and that’s not only because everyone is a little happier around the holidays. Historically, the S&P 500 has been up 19 of the last 25 Novembers and 20 of the last 25 Decembers, and that held true for this November as well. The S&P 500 is up […]
Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria wreaked havoc within a few weeks of each other. Houston was hit with historic rainfall from Harvey, and much of Florida was ravaged by wind damage from Irma. But Puerto Rico suffered the most out of the Caribbean islands with Maria making landfall in September. The U.S. territory was already […]
It’s said that timing is everything. And that’s true. But really, it’s bigger than that. Time – itself – is everything, and truly the world’s best companies are finding ways to give you more of it. We got pretty lucky last month in our feature of Amazon (timing is everything!). Possibly the most buzzworthy news […]
Wayne Gretzky, a National Hockey League Hall of Fame inductee, is probably the greatest hockey player of all time. He had a storied career even though he lacked overwhelming size or strength; in fact he was a good 30 pounds lighter than the average player of his time. On the ice, he showed great stamina […]
President Trump The trading days leading up to the U.S. presidential election did not feel great. For eight straight trading days, the stock market lost value. It was the first time the market had experienced eight consecutive down days since 2008. Fortunately, this year’s eight-day funk amounted to the S&P 500 losing only about 3% […]
You know it’s the fall in North Texas when your kid comes home from school with tickets to the State Fair of Texas. The Fair just kicked off its 130th year, and it’s a pretty big deal in these parts with a number of attractions drawing hundreds of thousands of people every year. The State […]
Data or Demand? In case you haven’t noticed it yet, there’s a serious election going on right now. Votes are being cast day after day, and the message seems pretty clear: buying American stocks, bonds, and real estate is how investors are voting with their money. We very well could be looking at the fifth […]
Markets have been treated like a punching bag over the first half of the year, taking blow after blow from a host of issues. The utter collapse in commodity prices wreaked havoc across world markets that struggled to adjust to the rapid change. The surging U.S. dollar hurt large U.S. multinational companies who found it […]
Acrophobia You can tack “-phobia” onto almost anything in order to create a label for a fear. Some of the most common fears include: arachnophobia (fear of spiders), ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), and acrophobia (fear of heights). The study of phobias is an interesting field, and the most common fears seem to stem from the […]
Fast Forward One Year
What a difference a year makes for economic shifts. Do you recall how 2016 started? The United States’ Federal Reserve announced the first interest rate hike in years in December of 2015, and the S&P 500 would then plummet almost 11% over the following 8 weeks. At the same time, Japan and a number of […]