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We Are Grateful We are grateful. That 2015 is behind us, and 2016 has yet to be written. Though the public markets have started 2016 with a whimper or a groan, there [...]

Domestic and International Markets Both domestic and international markets gave a rousing introduction to 2016, as you probably noticed. This seems to be mostly a reaction to what we will call China’s [...]

Markets Beginning As we have noted elsewhere, the markets began 2016 by behaving badly. The major domestic indices are off 7% to 8%, the DAX is off about 10%, the FTSE is [...]

January’s Volatility Given January’s volatility, let’s recap what actually happened, in terms of return. Looking across broad domestic stock and bond indices, intermediate bonds, as measured by BLV, led the month, up [...]

Employment Numbers Last week’s jobs report showed 151,000 new jobs in January, down from December’s 292,000 new jobs. The three month average remains north of 200,000, however. The official unemployment rate dropped [...]

Fundamentals Based on current results, Clinton and Trump will face off in the presidential election in November. That election though, is more than seven months away which, in politics, can be a [...]

Welcome to March 2016 Welcome to March 2016. The year continues to fly by. All of us seem to feel that each year goes by more quickly. It makes sense, actually. When [...]

Major Stock Indices The major stock indices ended February on a positive note, and carried this momentum through the first week of March. As of Friday March 4, 2016, the Dow Jones [...]

Economic Health This whole issue of economic health is fascinating. The Bank of Japan adopted negative interest rates in January, which means you pay the bank to hold your money. Japan has [...]

Top 20 Billionares 2016 Edition Sir John Templeton, founder of the Templeton mutual fund family, was once asked for a quote regarding the markets. Keep in mind that this was a man [...]

Oil Patch Economy It seems as if some dude or group of dudes going to guns against innocents is part of the white noise of our culture. And, it doesn’t seem to [...]

Job Growth for Life and Business The big question for the week is whether the FOMC will choose to raise interest rates. Observations are mixed, with some commentators suggesting they will, and [...]

Taxpayers & The American Opportunity Tax Credit Whiner boy Shkreli claims he was targeted by authorities over hikes in drug prices, according to an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Arrogance can [...]

Reflecting on 2015 Casual Observations This is a casual observation, not based on any scientific research but…this seems to be the first year that retailers really felt the impact of online buying. [...]