The Weekly Insight

Is a recession coming? Are we already in one? And what does that mean for portfolios? The answers to some of these questions (especially the last one) are likely going to surprise you.  Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-what-does-a-recession-mean-for-the-market/

The drama around the market (and pretty much everything else these days…) seems to be ramped up to a 10. We had a good inflation report? Yay! A bad GDP report? The world is ending! Maybe, just maybe, everything doesn’t need to be so…dramatic. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-drama/

Five years ago today, we wrote our first “Weekly Insight Memo” in response to the onset of COVID. It’s funny looking back on it how little we all knew about what was about to happen. But in re-reading that memo, there are some important parallels to what’s happening in the market today. And what might move markets for the rest of the year. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-...

The world shouldn’t have been surprised when the Trump Administration announced sweeping tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China. But it sure caught the market off-guard. As did the quick reversal of those tariffs. But as much as the market’s reaction matters to your portfolio, we saw some interesting consumer reactions late last week that are worth watching closely.  Read more here: https://ins...

Financial markets can be humbling. And they can make you pay for hubris. Tech investors found that out the hard way last week with the release of DeepSeek’s new AI tool. In this week’s edition of the Weekly Insight Memo and Weekly Insight Podcast we take a look at the changing landscape in AI and what a new Chinese competitor means for the stock market. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.c...

The market has been focused on the (quite significant) action coming out of the Trump Administration over the last week. And so far, it has liked what it’s seen.  Markets had their best first week of a new Administration since January 1985. But this week, we’re going to get a dose of reality. A huge week in earnings, combined with the first Fed meeting of 2025 will force the market to refocus on f...

It’s Inauguration Day. A time that is a celebration of our democratic republic. But also a time of uncertainty as we look to the future. Markets – as we’ve frequently said – hate uncertainty.   Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-the-first-100-days/

Nearly five years ago, we sent our first “Weekly Insight” to provide clients with information about the early stages of the COVID pandemic. The key lesson from that time was that – while we certainly didn’t get everything right – the patience our clients had during the pandemic was key to portfolio success. While certainly not on the same scale, we’re entering another one of those “patience” momen...

The holidays are over. The end of the year wrap-ups and 2025 look ahead articles have been written. Now it's time to get on to the work of 2025.   Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-is-the-shift-coming-in-2025/

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-a-look-ahead/

The last Fed meeting of the year was last week. And the results were…interesting.  We got exactly what everyone expected and… the market hated it. Why? To paraphrase the poet/philosopher Britney Spears: Oops…Powell did it again! Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-oops-he-did-it-again/

As we near the end of the year, this week will see the last “big” economic news: the Fed’s final meeting of 2024 and the subsequent release of their year-end Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). This SEP – and Powell’s subsequent comments – are going to go a long way for setting the tone for the economy as we enter 2025. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-is-powell...

We’ve heard of some crazy metrics in the market before. There are traders and analysts everywhere who will try to tell you that the market’s success or failure is tied to some obscure metric. The truth is, they can show you example after example of when X happened, Y happened. But there is a big difference between there being a correlation between those two events and X causing Y to happen. And th...

As we enter the final stretch of 2024, we begin to hear from the great prognosticators their predictions for how next year is going to play out in the markets. As these reports start to roll in, we thought we’d look at how well the experts predicted 2024 market outcomes. We think you’ll find the results interesting. And we hope they will color your view of the next round crystal ball polishing we’...

Readers of our commentary have known for a long time where we stand on the Federal debt. The rapidly growing problem has long-term consequences which will eventually be borne by all of us. And there has been little effort by either party to enact meaningful solutions. But now an unlikely pair of fiscal hawks – Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – have been tasked by President-elect Trump with fixing th...

In the last edition of the Weekly Insight, we suggested that the market might be venturing into an “overbought” position and suggested it may need a bit of a breather before it made another step forward. We got just that last week as the market focus shifted from the election back to the topics that have been moving markets for the last few years: the Fed, interest rates, and inflation. Read more...

Well, the election is behind us. Some Americans are very happy. Some are very unhappy. But, no matter what, the economy keeps moving and we need to keep moving with it.   Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-post-election-priorities/

Tomorrow is a big day. And for many of us, it seems like the finish line for a long and grueling process. Sadly, when it comes to politics, there is no finish line. There will be more contentious issues to tackle after the election is done. And the same goes for the market and the economy. The FOMC is going to remind us of that later this week when they meet on Thursday to make their next interest...

We’re almost there. Just eight days to go until we can put this election behind us.  But we also have to remember that elections matter in portfolios. This week, we look at one of the big areas where we might see immediate impacts to the market following the election: tax policy. The shape of this election will impact what happens to the soon-to-expire Tax Cut and Jobs Act from 2017. Read more her...

You’d be forgiven for thinking the only thing happening in the world today is the Presidential election coming up in just over two weeks. It seems that’s all any pundit is talking about. But the truth is, there is a lot happening impacting financial markets that has absolutely nothing to do with who gets sworn into office on January 20, 2025. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-week...

As they say, the only thing constant in the world is change. And we’re seeing an interesting change in how the market perceives economic news. You’ll recall many conversations in the pages of the Weekly Insight over the last few years about how “good news” was bad for the market as we battled inflation. That may not be true anymore. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight...

The world sure seems full of worry today, doesn’t it? It doesn’t help that we have two Presidential candidates fear mongering for votes. But there are things we should worry about in portfolios and things that really don’t move the needle. One that deserves our attention right now is the situation in the Middle East and the potential for a disruption in oil supplies.  Read more here: https://insig...

It finally happened! The Fed cut rates last week. And not just a 0.25% cut. We got the full 0.50%, which was larger than many anticipated. That brings up many questions, but the biggest is the simplest: what if they’re wrong? What if the Fed has misjudged this moment? What would it mean for the economy and for portfolios? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-what-if-th...

As we head into Fed Week (a very important Fed Week!), we thought it might be a good time to step back and look at the economy as a whole. We’re in an interesting moment. Economic growth continues to excel at a time when citizens of our country overwhelmingly say the economy is not succeeding. Where is the disconnect? And what does it mean for the future? Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup...

Did you feel that? That was the market’s worst week in 2024. Down 4.22% in a week. Well worse than we saw even at the beginning of August. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-worst-week-ever/