Stocks have been on a bit of a rollercoaster over the past two months. If your nature is to tune out the noise and check in occasionally, you might have missed it. After a 9 percent sell-off earlier in the year, markets quickly rebounded and have recently traded at all-time highs.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) kept interest rates unchanged after its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting earlier this month. Although investors and economists largely expected this outcome, stocks and bonds sold off immediately after Fed chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting news conference.
Ongoing military actions in the Middle East have increased investor uncertainty. Of course, geopolitical risk has always existed, and this time is no different.
It’s been a busy start to the year for investors, as shifting geopolitical risks and rising economic uncertainty led to choppy returns for stocks. Concerns about AI spending and profitability hit technology stocks especially hard. However, other sectors like financials and consumer discretionary have also seen losses to start the year.
On Friday, the Supreme Court struck down most of the tariffs the Trump administration had imposed over the past year. The question before the court was not whether the tariffs themselves were illegal, but whether the mechanism by which they were enacted was legal.
After much speculation and wild swings in market expectations, President Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh as his Fed chairman. If confirmed, he is expected to replace current Chair Jerome Powell in May at the end of his term.
Economists have company when it comes to being upbeat. The consensus economic outlook has led to optimism from analysts, who are forecasting strong earnings growth.
Each December, those of us in the investment business lay out our expectations for the coming year. We do so with the knowledge that no one has a clear crystal ball (it’s one of the reasons I like Oprah’s quote).
The government shutdown came to an end last night after 43 days, making it the longest shutdown in history. We will leave it to the political commentators to pass judgment on what it means for the decision-makers in Washington.
As of midnight Tuesday, the U.S. government shut down, as lawmakers couldn’t reach an agreement on a short-term bill to continue funding government expenditures. Currently, none of the 12 appropriations bills have been passed.
Last week’s Fed meeting resulted in a much-anticipated interest rate reduction of 25 bps, to a range of 4 percent to 4.25 percent. This move followed a nine-month pause in its rate-cutting cycle, which began a year ago.
After a volatile first four months of 2025, it was a good summer for investors to go on vacation, as markets, for the most part, went up weekly.
As July gave way to August, an eventful news week moved markets. Corporate earnings continued to surprise to the upside.
Last week, I returned to the small Maine town I mentioned in my Independence Day post.
While stocks experienced a roller-coaster ride powered by policy uncertainty, fixed income generally held up well despite the broader market turbulence. Will it be the same story in the second half? Let’s take a closer look.
Equities have been on quite the roller coaster in 2025. Although the tariff situation has driven much of this volatility, we find ourselves in a similar spot to where we began the year.
The first half of the year has left investors with many questions about the path ahead for the economy and markets. Unfortunately, there haven’t been many concrete answers. Tariff announcements and trade negotiations have commanded the room.
Markets have recovered from their post-Liberation Day sell-off. Investors are feeling better about the outlook. But there are still clouds on the horizon.
The recent rally began when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck a more conciliatory tone with China, saying he expected a de-escalation shortly.
Commonwealth Financial Network®, a national RIA dedicated to providing financial advisors with holistic, integrated business solutions, has initiated a new partnership with Messina College, a two-year, all-residential degree program of Boston College that welcomed its first-ever class of students to the school’s Brookline Campus last summer.
As investors wait for updates on trade deals during the pause in tariff implementation, the focus for many has turned to economic growth and the conflicting data surrounding it.
During periods of market volatility and declines, investors get concerned. They question their long-term objectives and whether they have more risk in their portfolios than they can tolerate. These are reasonable thoughts to have at times like these.
Last week, the S&P 500 was up 5.7%, the strongest week for the market since November 2023.
The markets are in the middle of a historic decline. Not so much in the magnitude—while we are approaching a bear market, these happen fairly regularly—but in the speed of the drop.
At the start of last week, the S&P 500 rallied three days in a row, with investors believing that the tariffs announced on Wednesday would be targeted.
The first quarter of 2025 took investors on a rollercoaster, driven by on-again, off-again tariff policy announcements.
Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting at a Commonwealth conference. I love spending time and sharing ideas with our advisors. They are the best in the business.
As of the end of trading on Thursday, March 13, the S&P 500 closed down 10 percent from its all-time high, marking an official correction. It was the first correction since October 2023—17 months ago.
As the consumer goes, so goes the U.S. economy. Consumers make up roughly 70 percent of U.S. GDP.
Like most incoming administrations, President Trump entered office with a desire to do things differently than his predecessor, and he is certainly doing that.
The blog touches on how the "Magnificent Seven" tech giants—Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—achieved a remarkable 21% earnings growth in Q3 2024, propelling the S&P 500 to a 5.9% overall increase.
From beginning to end, the 2024 election cycle will be looked back on as historic
People who are affiliated with the party that is represented in the White House always think the economy is better than those in the party not represented. Somehow, those opinions tend to change around elections. People’s views of the economy change very quickly if there is a change in control of the White House.
When we look at the Q3 earnings season, the Magnificent Seven have been driving much of the S&P 500’s growth since 2022. As these companies get larger and more mature, maintaining huge growth rates will become more difficult, especially considering the valuations they’re trading at.
September was a solid month for investors, capping off a strong quarter for markets. Falling interest rates helped support stock returns, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average setting new record highs during the month. Even bonds were up, marking five straight months with positive fixed income performance.
After months if not years of investors asking when the Fed would cut rates, we finally got our answer.
While it seems fitting that rates are beginning to fall within days of the Autumnal Equinox, I doubt Fed officials were aiming for the play on words. So, what were they paying attention to as they made this most recent decision?
If you entered this NFL season as a Kansas City Chiefs fan, you’re probably hoping for a Super Bowl win after clinching three of the past five Super Bowls and having Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback and Taylor Swift backing the team.
Pullbacks are normal, but every time is scary. And every time we need to pay attention. But in the end, although there are real risks out there, right now everything is still fairly normal, in our view. We will be keeping an eye on things, but the best course of action remains simply this: keep calm and carry on.
There’s a lot to plan when starting your own firm, including how you’ll communicate with and carry over your clients. Download our checklist to learn how to focus on growing your new firm without sacrificing the client experience, ways to effectively communicate your new vision, and strategies that maximize client retention.
When a Cinderella story comes out of nowhere to win a championship, fans are ecstatic (just like I was watching Tom Brady win his first Super Bowl against the heavily favored Rams).
As the wealth landscape evolves, the number of high-net-worth individuals is on the rise. And that means financial advisors who can cater to their complex needs will be in high demand. Are you prepared to meet the challenge? Learn key strategies to help you become the go-to advisor for these discerning clients.
March was another positive month for markets, continuing the rally to start the year. Improving corporate fundamentals and a supportive economic backdrop drove solid single-digit returns for U.S. markets during the month.
My last blog was titled “A Start to Remember for the Markets”—and it’s a story that continues to play out as we move further into 2024. With March’s closing price, the S&P 500 is now up 10.16 percent on the year.
If you’re seeking greater flexibility, transparency, and even more ways to serve your clients, it’s time to start exploring the advantages of a being a fee-only advisor. Discover key insights to consider before embarking on this transition journey and explore the three distinct paths available for operating as an RIA.
More advisors and firms are moving to fee-centric affiliation models, dropping their FINRA registrations and focusing on providing investment advice for a fee. What is the driver behind this trend? Today, we’ll explore the models under which an advisor could move to a fee-based practice, the benefits, the changes from a product and compensation perspective, and the key considerations for those considering this move. The three main ways an advisor could move to a fee-based model are becoming an investment adviser representative of a corporate RIA (like Commonwealth), starting their own RIA, or joining an independent RIA. At the end of our conversation, I hope to illuminate the differences between those models and what you should focus on if you are considering a change in your affiliation model.
Every year or two, a new round of worries crops up. Some of them are real—the war in Ukraine, inflation, politics—but a surprising number are not. The challenge, of course, is telling which is which.
I love spending time outdoors—except when it’s 20 degrees outside. For me, winter in Boston is a time to focus on self-improvement, whether that’s working on fitness goals or taking a class, so I can enjoy the warm weather when it finally arrives.
Since the 1980s, we have celebrated and honored female trailblazers, who have shaped our history and advocated for change, during Women’s History Month.
Noble Prize winners and “Modern Portfolio Theory” pioneers Harry Markowitz and William Sharpe developed what we know today as the 60-40 portfolio. This strategy consisted of a hypothetical 60 percent allocation to equities and a 40 percent allocation to fixed income.
