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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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

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…

With the Kansas Jayhawks beating the North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA basketball championships, March Madness is officially over. And for the markets, March was truly a month of madness as stocks and bonds declined significantly before a modest rebound. Overall, the first quarter of 2022 saw new highs for stocks early in the…

The final quarter of 2021 capped off a year with equity returns far higher than most investment strategists predicted or expected. While the S&P 500 gained 11% in the quarter, MSCI EAFE (international stocks) was up just 2.7% while MSCI Emerging Markets stocks fell 1.2%. And the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond index was flat. Both U.S.…