The first quarter was mostly defined by the month-long invasion of Iran by the U.S. after failed diplomatic talks. Volatility reigned supreme. Oil prices rose sharply as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic thereby creating a supply chokehold.
Happy New Year to you all. This is our second year combining our two lengthy pieces into one concise report covering both the investment year in review and discussing our outlook for the year to come.
Starting in 2026, high earners age 50 and older must make catch-up contributions to an employer plan (401k, 403b, 457(b), etc.) as Roth contributions (after-tax contributions). High earners are defined as participants who earn in excess of $150,000 in FICA wages (indexed annually) the previous year, starting with 2025 wages.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA or OBBB) is a significant piece of U.S. federal legislation, signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025. The OBBBA is designed to provide substantial tax cuts, primarily by making permanent many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that were set to expire at the end of 2025.
Financial markets staged a rapid recovery from the tariff-led market correction in April. The S&P 500 low for the year occurred on April 8th when the index closed at 4,983, down 19% from its all-time high in early February. From that low to the end of the second quarter, the S&P staged a quick recovery, rising nearly 25%, on the heels of tariff delays and constructive economic reports.
With a new year comes a new format for our quarterly market discussions. We value your time and want to make the market information we present more concise and easier to read. To that end, we are doing away with the multi-page version of two reports (last year’s review and this year’s outlook). We’re combining those pieces and making them easier to follow with more bullet points summaries and illustrative graphics. We hope you enjoy the format.
U.S. equities had a strong third quarter across large, mid, and small-cap equities despite several stretches of market volatility along the way. Domestic large cap equities, as measured by the S&P 500, continued their movement upward as year-to-date gains ended the quarter up 22.1% for the year.
Equities got off to a rocky start in April with a small pullback of about 5.5% in the S&P 500. However, sentiment quicky changed in May and June as a continuation of solid economic data combined with tamer inflation gave a boost to stocks and propelled the S&P to new all-time highs the last two months. For the quarter, the S&P 500 total return rose 4.3%, after a stunning 10.6% rise in the first quarter.
Markets continued to rise for the second quarter in a row and the S&P 500 stayed on a stable upward path over the last five months. For the quarter the S&P total return rose an impressive 10.6% which we attribute to good economic data on inflation and the economy...
Last year, we titled our outlook piece “Prospects Brighten as Fed Slows” with the focus on the Federal Reserve because we believed it held the majority of control over the path of the economy and financial markets. That was the correct narrative as we waited with bated breath for every monthly economic report on prices, jobs, wages, and interest rates, which all went the direction we wanted.
S&P 500 Index rose more than 7%, the best August since 1986. S&P 500 Index is extended and sits...
July recorded the fourth month in a row of positive equity returns around the globe. The markets pushed higher despite the news of COVID...
The second quarter started and ended in quite a different manner with respect to the virus, the economy and the financial markets. Let’s take a look at...