George Hosfield, CFA, discusses Ferguson Wellman's quarterly strategy titled, "Inflation's Flame Flickers," which addresses the narrow market leadership, the impact of higher interest rates on inflation and how assets are priced at this stage of the economic cycle.
George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the firm's quarterly strategy titled "Stalemate," which highlights the Fed's ongoing battle to tame inflation along with our views on the health of the banking industry and capital market expectations for the balance of the year.
Director and Chief Investment Officer George Hosfield, CFA, discusses the Fed raising interest rates, peaking inflation and our view on equities and volatility across all asset classes in our Investment Strategy titled, “Balancing Act.”
Ferguson Wellman and West Bearing
While it was a relatively quiet week of macroeconomic news, investors are still busy making sense of the inflation and interest rate paradox: that is, inflation stoking recession fears, but also rising rates to combat inflation also stoking recession fears.
Adoption of socially responsible, or more commonly referred to as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing, has gone into a parabolic growth phase.
As we close out another Thanksgiving week, investors have a lot to be thankful for this year. At this time last year, the Fed was still raising interest rates, global economies were slowing and the S&P 500 was on its way to a negative 13.5 percent return for the fourth quarter.
After rising in lockstep for most of this year-to-date, stocks and bonds moved in dramatically different directions after a week chocked full of market moving developments.
This morning the Bureau of Economic Analysis released the second quarter GDP estimate and, while growth was down 3.1 percent from the first quarter, it was still a healthy 2.1 percent with consumer and government spending that was strong.
Ferguson Wellman Capital Management has been named to the Financial Times Top 300 RIAs List for 2019.
While the broad market finished the holiday-shortened week positive, healthcare investors weren’t as fortunate. Continued chatter regarding “Medicare for All” as well as a Health and Human Services proposal to ban drug rebates for Medicare are weighing on the sector.
Investors the world over are starved for yield. Investments that provide a consistent stream of cash flow are vital for insurance companies, pensions, retired individuals and banks.
The offhand reference to stock charts in a rising trend accurately describes the good times stock investors have enjoyed so far this year. For those who hung tight amid the carnage of December, the S&P 500 has delivered returns just shy of 11 percent so far this year.
Opportunity zones have become a trending topic in financial circles of late and we are taking a “walk, don’t run” approach when reviewing the space.
As kids prepare to go back to school and families make plans for that last long weekend of summer vacation, investors enjoyed new highs for blue-chip stocks this week. Despite the ongoing uncertainty of trade policy, stocks continue to ascend a wall of worry, having digested another quarter of robust earnings growth in part the result of faster U.S. economic growth.
With just a couple of weeks left to go in the second quarter, investors wanting for a lack of earnings news found plenty of economic reports and central bank meetings to freshen up their views of the macroeconomy.
The markets had to digest weighty geopolitical headlines this week with tariffs, North Korea and a messy political landscape in the European Union dominating the news cycle.
Charles Dicken’s iconic tome illustrates aptly the interplay between earnings news and economic news of late. Every day it seems good earning news is complemented with slowing economic news and vice versa. Recent market volatility has pushed cautious investors to the sidelines and those that remain are riding the markets up and down with every recent news release.
Ferguson Wellman Capital Management has been ranked by InvestmentNews magazine as a top investment company.
InvestmentNews named Ferguson Wellman 11 out of 15 companies in their “Western Success Stories” category in the listing of largest fee-only RIAs as organized by region as based on assets under management. Ferguson Wellman is the only firm to be included from Oregon and is the largest in the Pacific Northwest to be included.
“We are honored to be included in this impressive list of advisers by InvestmentNews. We believe it is a testament to how we have strategically grown our business and consistently focused on a high level of service for our clients,” said Steve Holwerda, CFA, principal and chief operating officer.
Founded in 1975, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management is a privately owned registered investment advisory firm, established in the Pacific Northwest. As of January 1, 2017, the firm manages over $4.5 billion for more than 760 clients that include individuals and families; Taft-Hartley and corporate retirement plans; and endowments and foundations with portfolios of $3 million or more. West Bearing Investments, a division of Ferguson Wellman, serves clients with assets starting at $750,000. (data as of January 1, 2017).
Methodology and Disclosure from Financial Advisor:
InvestmentNews qualified 1,937 firms headquartered in the United States based on data reported on Form ADV to the Securities and Exchange Commission as of Nov. 1, 2017. To qualify, firms must have met the following criteria: (1) latest ADV filing date is either on or after Jan. 1, 2016, (2) total AUM is at least $100M, (3) does not have employees who are registered representatives of a broker-dealer, (4) provided investment advisory services to clients during its most recently completed fiscal year, (5) no more than 50 percent of amount of regulatory assets under management is attributable to pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies), (6) no more than 25 percent of amount of regulatory assets under management is attributable to pension and profit-sharing plans (but not the plan participants), (7) no more than 25 percent of amount of regulatory assets under management is attributable to corporations or other businesses, (8) does not receive commissions, (9) provides financial planning services, (10) is not actively engaged in business as a broker-dealer (registered or unregistered), (11) is not actively engaged in business as a registered representative of a broker-dealer, (12) has neither a related person who is a broker-dealer/municipal securities dealer/government securities broker or dealer (registered or unregistered) nor one who is an insurance company or agency.
Source: InvestmentNews
Data Additional Disclosures:
InvestmentNews produced this list by surveying all registered investment advisors that filed their ADV with the SEC. Ferguson Wellman (the firm) is not aware of any facts that would call into question the validity of the ranking. The firm does not believe this advertisement is inappropriate and is not aware of any unfavorable rating towards the firm. InvestmentNews pulled data from ADV filings for the ranking. All 12,000 RIAs in the United States were surveyed, then they narrowed the field down to those with assets under management of $250 million or more. For the category we were considered, there were 214 firms that qualified, and the Firm ranked 55 of the 214. Of the firms listed in the total RIA survey and ranking by InvestmentNews, 33 percent fell into the $1 billion or more assets under management category. The rating does not involve client experience and is not indicative of Ferguson Wellman’s future performance. Ferguson Wellman did not pay a fee to participate in this survey.
Friday revealed strong earnings in large cap tech-fueled stocks, resulting in a slightly positive week for the market. This leaves the S&P 500 at another all-time high. Interest rates ticked up as well, as economic data continued to show improvements. The 10-year U.S. Treasury ended the week with a yield of 2.43 percent, up from 2.35 percent.
