It’s always a strange time in the market when good economic data is treated as bad news. As investors, we can’t help but feel good about the jobs report today, even if it means the Fed will keep aggressively raising short-term interest rates in the coming months.
Recording: Mid-Year Economic Outlook Webinar with Portland and Puget Sound Business Journals
Ferguson Wellman presents its mid-year investment outlook in partnership with the Portland and Puget Sound Business Journals. Originally aired July 13, 2022.
U.S. Economy Continues to Power Through
While news coverage is understandably focused on the devastation in Ukraine, we remain keenly focused on the fundamentals of the U.S. economy and the companies we follow. We realize that during times of stress markets become disconnected from the underlying fundamentals of the economy, but just like water always finds its equilibrium, markets similarly return to the fundamentals.
Raising Rates for the Right Reason
During our collective years in investment management, we’ve come to use several phrases over and over. Our long-time clients may begin to roll their eyes as we repeat an oft-used phrase, “The Fed is raising rates for the right reason.”
2022 Investment Outlook Video: Extraordinary to Ordinary
Outlook 2022: Extraordinary to Ordinary
Skating to Where the Puck Is Going
Our Director and CEO Emeritus Jim Rudd, has long been a fan of the Wayne Gretzky quote, “don’t skate to where the puck is, skate to where it is going.” While it important to keep an eye on current data, it is more important to understand current data in the context of where you think the puck, or the economy in this case, is going. Let’s look at what is currently going on in Washington and the economy, and where we expect they are going later this year and into 2022.
Synchronicity
With global governments and central banks providing liquidity at an unprecedented pace, you would expect global growth to be growing synchronously. But, as has been the case from the beginning of the pandemic, the virus and the multitude of government responses to combat the virus have varied from country to country.
Signs!
“Signs, Signs everywhere there are [help wanted] Signs,” is how the song goes. It’s the first Friday of the month, and that means the monthly payroll report is released by the Bureau of Labor & Statistics.
Oregon Business Magazine Names Firm to Financial Planner List
The "Yeah, but..." Recovery
Maybe it’s human nature, news coverage or it’s just a self-preservation mechanism, but I’ve decided to start calling this the “yeah, but….” recovery. “The global economy is going to boom in the second half of the year,” say the economists. And then comes, “Yeah, but…’
2020 Annual Report
Preparing for Volatility and Alarmist Headlines
Q&A from Investment Outlook 2021
Time for a New Year
2020 will be a year many Americans will want to forget, and rightfully so. Record unemployment, tragic loss of human life and people trapped at home with no where to go. No doubt, there is good news and bad news on the horizon.
How Far into the Future?
The stock market is a discounting mechanism. What does that mean? It means the value today is explained by the economy in the future and ultimately long-term earnings.
Cole Interviewed by KXL Radio
Making Sense of the (Un)Employment Picture
Each week our Investment Policy Committee meets to review asset allocation and our outlook for the economy and global markets. We have a standard book of economic charts that we review to determine the health of the economy and what is transpiring around the world and many of these indicators go back decades.
A Slow Healing Process
All day and every day we are bombarded by economic, company and political news. And not just U.S. news, but global news as well. Even in normal times this can seem overwhelming, and especially so during a pandemic.
The Global Economy is Healing
Economic signals indicate that the recovery has begun around the world. As expected, China has been the first to emerge from recession, and their economy is moving forward.