The Weekly Insight

Last week started with the big news that the U.S. and China had agreed to a temporary reduction in tariffs. The market rallied and ended the week up more than 5%. But, as much as the market would love to assume we can move on to the next conversation, there is much yet to be determined regarding trade policy. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-far-from-completed-agre...

Last week was Fed week which is always must-see TV at Insight (whether we like it or not). Unlike the last few years, this meeting was largely without market drama. But it did leave us with some interesting tidbits to understand the interplay between the Fed – holding dry powder for a potential recession – and the ongoing discussion on tariffs. What did we learn? The Fed still thinks the economy i...

Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-choose-your-own-economy/

The volume today around the markets and the state of the world is at a “10”. You can go to any news source you want and you’ll find some version of “The sky is falling!” or “The world is ending!” sentiment. But here’s the thing: the world hasn’t ended yet and – as pointed out by famed investor Howard Marks – the planning necessary to avoid the pain when the world ends is 1) impossible; and 2) woul...

If you’ve been paying attention to our commentary over the years, you know we believe strongly that there are some “big things” in the world that must be understood to be a successful investor.  Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-three-big-things-tariffs/

We all survived yet another week of wild swings in the market. Today (so far!), they’re the good kind. Last week, it was a bit of both. And while we could continue to retread the ground covered in-depth on tariff policy, we thought we’d go a different direction. This week we wanted to dive into the psychology of the markets – specifically the psychology of loss – and address why you’re not well su...

The topic of these week’s memo and podcast won’t surprise you: tariffs. And it would probably be good business to tell you we have all the answers for what the market is going to do in response over the coming weeks. The truth is this: no one has those answers. But we do know how we need to respond, because history has taught us this lesson before. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/th...

The market is awaiting President Trump’s “Liberation Day” decisions on tariffs this week. But to assume this is the end of the discussion – or the end of the volatility – is likely folly.  Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-liberation-day/

Transitory. Powell uttered that word again. The last time he did so, it didn’t work out too well. But while tariff driven inflation is not yet a thing, we do know one thing that’s transitory: market downturns. Which is why we made some changes in our portfolios last week. Read more here: https://insightwealthgroup.com/the-weekly-insight-transitory/

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...