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.”
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.
As autumn dawned this week, investors witnessed the first move by a developed market’s central bank to raise interest rates since the COVID-19 pandemic began. No, the Fed didn’t raise rates. Rather, it was Norway’s central bank that moved its short-term interest rate target off the zero bound, citing improved economic activity that no longer justifies such monetary policy accommodation.
Ferguson Wellman Capital Management was recently named to Barron’s Top RIA Firms 2021. Barron’s Top 100 RIA Firms 2021 rankings listed Ferguson Wellman at 60 out of 100 in the nation and was the only advisory firm to be recognized from Oregon.
Rolling Stone magazine released its top 500 songs of all time this week. While some may argue that the top ten is missing several classics, they did rank Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” as the best of all time. We feel this song is also timely as we believe the U.S. consumer deserves “a little respect”.
Katherine Russell, IACCP®, shares tips to help prevent cybersecurity breaches. Technology support services are one of many offerings from Octavia Group, our family office solution for clients.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at last month’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium focused market participants on the labor market ‘speedometer’ that will determine how much and for how long our central bank will maintain its current stimulus measures. The Fed has set a high bar for achieving ‘substantial further progress’ towards full employment.
In the Pixar classic Finding Nemo, the characters Dory and Marlin were hovering over a trench, the black unknown below, and they had just lost their last hope of finding Marlin’s son, Nemo.
The pandemic brought many opportunities for our colleagues to practice one of our core values of “advocate innovation and manage change.” While we adjusted to working from home, we did not stop the hiring process for several of our departments. We asked our newest colleagues to answer three questions about their experience joining the company during quarantine.
All eyes were fixated across several facets of policy this week: the U.S. military withdrawal and civilian evacuation in Afghanistan, the much-anticipated bargaining in Congress to pass the budget resolution and lastly Fed Chair Powell’s comments regarding the plans for removing the extraordinary accommodation put in place during the pandemic-induced recession.
Scott Christianson, CFP®, discusses the SECURE Act and other changes that retirees and those planning for retirement should know.
Recent uncertainty due to the COVID Delta variant as well as concerns over the Federal Reserve tapering has resulted in a “risk off” market.
If you are looking for ways to increase your tax-advantaged retirement savings, it may be worth exploring the concepts of the backdoor Roth, and the newly popular mega-backdoor Roth. If the circumstances fit and the rules are followed, both strategies allow individuals to save money for retirement without ever paying income taxes on the funds again. Yes, you read that right.
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.
The residential housing market can be characterized as frenzied in many parts of the country, which begs the question — is it in a bubble?
“Are we there yet?” is a familiar back seat refrain that often occurs during long, summertime road trips involving bored children and their beleaguered parents. As we transition through our second COVID-affected summer, this frustration is also felt by investors and other market participants who long for some return to “normal.” Surely, we must all be there by now, right?
Tax policy is being proposed and revised at a furious pace in Washington. Not knowing if, when and in what form the proposals might turn into law, it may be tempting to ignore the process and wait for the final outcome.
A week that began with the sharpest pullback in equities since last fall concluded in remarkable fashion, as investor concerns about the economic repercussions of rising COVID-19 infections gave way to an increasingly constructive second quarter earnings season.
On July 22, our firm hosted an Investment Strategy Update webinar presented by Charissa Anderson, CFP®, CDFA®, Ralph Cole, CFA, and Jason Norris, CFA.
A recording of the presentation can be viewed below and the slides can be found by clicking the button below.
The S&P 500 is up over 15% this year and up almost 35% over the last 12 months. This week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average eclipsed 35,000 — another “round number milestone.”
Josh Frankel, CFP®, discusses five questions to talk to your insurance agent about that will help you protect your assets.
