2024 Q3 Review & Outlook

We experienced another strong quarter for the markets with the S&P 500 Index posting a 5.9% gain in the third quarter of 2024, adding to the positive previous two quarters.  Albeit a bit choppy mid-quarter, sparked by renewed fears of a recession and the sudden unwinding of big financial bets in Japan, the equity markets…

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2024 Q2 Review & Outlook

For the third quarter in a row, US stocks posted gains with the S&P 500 Index rising 4.3% for the second quarter of 2024. Similar to the start of the year, the market was helped by economic and earnings data that exceeded expectations. Other contributing factors included a steady but slow decline in inflation, a quick adoption…

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2024 Q1 Review & Outlook

Following on the heels of a strong final quarter in 2023 for the equity markets, the First Quarter of 2024 provided more of the same with major indices posting positive returns. Continuing economic growth, declining inflation and better than expected earnings guidance from corporations provided encouragement to investors. It appears the Federal Reserve may be able…

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2023 Q4 Review & Outlook

2023 proved to be a very interesting year in the markets and a good reminder as to why investors should remain invested, well diversified and patient. We began the year in a cloud of bearishness and finished the year in a burst of exuberance. The year-end rally occurred following Fed Chair Powell’s comments, as inflation…

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2023 Q3 Review & Outlook

Facing the headwind of higher interest rates, both domestic and international stocks generally posted slightly negative returns in the third quarter of 2023. Medium and longer maturity bonds fared poorly in the quarter too as investors began to accept the prospect of elevated interest rates for longer. In our link below, while Table 1 shows…

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2023 Q2 Review & Outlook

In spite of elevated inflation and rising interest rates, stocks turned in positive results in both Q2 and YTD across all market segments as shown on Table 1 of the attached report. Notably this performance was led by a sharp rebound in growth-oriented sectors which had significantly underperformed in 2022. As shown in Table 2,…

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2023 Q1 Review & Outlook

The first quarter of 2023 saw the markets rebound and inflation slow modestly. Yet, it also gave us a bit of heartburn during the ‘mini-banking crisis’ as we had brief flashbacks to 2008-2009. Amidst all this noise, Pointe Capital Management remains cautiously optimistic. In stark contrast to 2022, both stocks and bonds performed well in…

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2022 Q4 Review and Outlook

Despite the growing pessimism, equity markets posted decent gains in the last quarter of 2022, up 8% for the S&P 500 Index® and 17% for the MSCI EAFE Index. But for all of 2022, US and international stocks posted the weakest one-year performance since 2008. The S&P 500 Index® dropped 18%, while growth stock indices…

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2022 Q3 Review and Outlook

Fall is here, the leaves are changing, the temperatures are falling and Halloween is around the corner. Unfortunately, the markets pre-empted Halloween’s arrival with their own ‘frightful’ performance. To start the third quarter, stocks rose 13% from July 1 until mid-August. Then, the Consumer Price Index came in higher than expected and the Federal Reserve…

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2022 Q2 Review and Outlook

Summer is upon us but there have been very few lazy days so far in the markets. In the second quarter, the S&P 500 fell 16%, mostly in June after record inflation data from April and May, bringing the Year-to-Date return down 20%, the worst start to a year since 1970. The rest of the…

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