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.”
Now that individual taxpayers have submitted their 2022 tax returns and Tax Day 2023 is in the rearview mirror, a largely self-made crisis surrounding raising the debt ceiling will begin to resonate through the halls of Congress, possibly lasting through the summer months.
This week, President Joe Biden is expected to announce his choice of Federal Reserve chair. The two favorites are the incumbent Jerome Powell and current Fed governor Lael Brainard. Within the last several weeks, odds showed that Chair Powell was a shoe-in. But more recent indications show Brainard’s favorability increasing.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for a global minimum tax in a speech this week coinciding with the Biden administration’s call for a corporate tax increase. Just like the rules of recess football, it’s not the rate that’s important, it’s the certainty in the rules itself that matter.
2020 has been such a challenging year for so many, so on this Thanksgiving weekend we offer our thanks to all the healthcare workers who have provided comfort to so many amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also thankful for all the researchers and volunteers who appear to have us at the doorstep of widely available vaccines with the corresponding hope for a return to normalcy. True to form, financial markets have already begun anticipating what a post-vaccine world will look like and asset prices have responded accordingly.
It was a busy week in Washington with a highly anticipated midterm election followed by the Federal Reserve meeting. The results of both came in as expected although it seems the markets were not synced to that result.
Treasury rates and the U.S. dollar climbed while U.S. equities are headed towards six straight weeks of gains. The market appears to be betting on the successful passing of a tax overhaul after the U.S. Senate approved a budget resolution. The bond market fluctuated and ended the week yielding around 2.37 percent, trading up from last week’s level of 2.27 percent.
The passing of Hurricane Harvey and the imminent landfall of Irma failed to rock the boat for equities, which remain near all-time highs despite puts and takes amid industries being impacted by severe weather events. More remarkable than trade posturing in home improvement and insurance stocks is the observation that benchmark interest rates and the dollar continue to slide.
The broad markets performed as expected this week as the Federal Reserve announced its much expected rate hike Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did set a new high after the announcement but finishes the week up only 0.4 percent.
This week, investors recognized the 8-year anniversary of a bull market that is now second only in length to the tech-fueled run of the 1990s. In March, blue chip stocks consolidated a small portion of recent gains, but nevertheless, the S&P 500 has now returned over 250 percent since the bear market lows in March of 2009.
For the week, the equity markets were higher by about 1.15 percent as investors absorbed Janet Yellen's testimony to Congress and the stronger-than-expected economic data that was posted. Interest rates were higher with the 10-year U.S. Treasury climbing in yield from 2.39 percent to 2.41 percent.
